SCIA-120 Hands-On Labs¶

Course: SCIA-120 · Introduction to Secure Computing
Frostburg State University — Department of Computer Science & Information Technology

Lab Program Overview¶

This lab series provides 13 hands-on, Docker-based exercises that complement the SCIA-120 lecture materials. Each lab is self-contained, requires no special hardware beyond a personal computer, and uses Docker containers to create safe, isolated environments for exploring real security tools and techniques.

What You Need

A computer running Windows 10/11, macOS, or Linux
Docker Desktop installed — Download here
A terminal (PowerShell on Windows, Terminal on macOS/Linux)
Approximately 1–2 hours per lab

Lab Philosophy

These labs follow a learn-by-doing approach. You will run real security tools against real (but isolated) systems. The goal is not just to complete the steps, but to understand why each tool and technique works the way it does.

Lab Schedule¶

Lab	Title	Topic	Difficulty	Time
Lab 01	Docker Basics & the CIA Triad	InfoSec Fundamentals	⭐	45–60 min
Lab 02	Linux File Permissions & OS Hardening	OS Security	⭐	45–60 min
Lab 03	Password Storage: Never Store Plaintext	Cryptography	⭐	45–60 min
Lab 04	Network Reconnaissance with Nmap	Network Security	⭐	45–60 min
Lab 05	Packet Capture & Traffic Analysis	Network Security	⭐⭐	45–60 min
Lab 06	Firewall Rules with iptables	Network Security	⭐⭐	45–60 min
Lab 07	Encryption in Practice with OpenSSL	Cryptography	⭐⭐	45–60 min
Lab 08	Securing a Web Server with HTTPS	Internet Security	⭐⭐	60–75 min
Lab 09	Web Vulnerabilities: SQL Injection	Secure Programming	⭐⭐	60–75 min
Lab 10	Malware Sandbox: Safe Behavior Analysis	Malware Analysis	⭐⭐	45–60 min
Lab 11	SSH Keys & Access Control	Authentication	⭐⭐	60–75 min
Lab 12	Log Analysis & Anomaly Detection	Security Practices	⭐⭐	60–75 min
Lab 13	Capstone: Harden a Containerized Application	All Topics	⭐⭐⭐	90–120 min
Lab — BST in Java	Binary Search Tree in Java	Data Structures	⭐⭐	60–75 min

Learning Progression¶

The labs are organized to build on one another:

Labs 01–04   →   Labs 05–08   →   Labs 09–12   →   Lab 13
Foundation       Networking &      Application &     Capstone
& OS Basics      Cryptography      Detection         Integration

Labs 01–04 introduce Docker, Linux fundamentals, and basic cryptography. Labs 05–08 cover network security and encryption in practice. Labs 09–12 tackle application vulnerabilities, malware analysis, and incident detection. Lab 13 integrates everything into a real hardening exercise.

Assessment Structure¶

Each lab is worth 100 points:

Component	Points
Screenshot submission (minimum 6–10 per lab)	40
Analysis/mapping table or code comparison	20
Reflection questions (3–4 per lab)	40

All screenshots must be: - Clearly labeled (e.g., screenshot-03d-hash-comparison.png) - Show your terminal — not generic internet images - Submitted through the course LMS by the due date

Difficulty Guide¶

Symbol	Level	Description
⭐	Beginner	No prior Linux or networking experience needed
⭐⭐	Beginner–Intermediate	Basic command-line comfort helpful
⭐⭐⭐	Intermediate	All prior labs should be completed first

Technical Troubleshooting¶

Docker command says 'permission denied'

On Linux, add your user to the docker group: sudo usermod -aG docker $USER then log out and back in.

A Docker image fails to pull

Check your internet connection. If on campus, ensure the campus network allows Docker Hub access. You can also try pulling from a different network.

A port is already in use (e.g., port 8080)

Another application is using that port. Either stop the other service, or modify the Docker -p flag to use a different host port (e.g., -p 9090:80 instead of -p 8080:80).

Container commands run but nothing seems to happen

Run docker ps to check if the container is running. Run docker logs <container-name> to see error output.

I accidentally left a container running

Run docker ps -a to list all containers, then docker stop <name> and docker rm <name>. To clean up everything: docker system prune -f.

Academic Integrity¶

Important

All lab work must be your own. Screenshots must be from your own computer — do not copy screenshots from classmates or the internet. The tools and techniques in these labs must only be used against the local Docker containers in the lab environment. Scanning, attacking, or probing any system you do not own is illegal.

Review FSU's Academic Integrity Policy before beginning the labs.

Quick Start¶

Ready to begin? Start with Lab 01 →

# Verify Docker is installed and running
docker --version
docker run --rm hello-world

If hello-world runs successfully, you are ready to start Lab 01.

Labs authored for SCIA-120 · Frostburg State University · Spring 2026