News Brief #8: The FORESIGHT training curriculum for the Power Grid Domain professionals

The training path of the Power Grid pilot was based on the successful delivery of twelve training modules. These modules made up the FORESIGHT Power Grid training curricula and were organized into three levels (Beginner, Intermediate and Advance).

Beginner Level

  • P1 – Malware Fundamentals (Instructor-Based with multiple choice questions evaluation exam) 
  • P2 – Network Defence and Attack Assessments (Instructor-Based with multiple choice questions evaluation exam and Capture The Flag (CTF) Challenge in the Training Environment)
  • P3 – Cryptographic Applications (Instructor-Based with multiple choice questions evaluation exam and Capture The Flag (CTF) Challenge in the Training Environment)
  • P4 – Preparedness for Network Attacks (Instructor-Based with multiple choice questions evaluation exam and Capture The Flag (CTF) Challenge in the Training Environment)
  • P5 – Incident Response (Instructor-Based with multiple choice questions evaluation exam) 

After the successful completion of P1-P5 modules a trainee is entitled to Cybersecurity Awareness for the Power Grid domain (CAP) Certification.

Intermediate Level

  • P6 – Introduction to Network Forensics and Investigating Logs (Instructor-Based with multiple choice questions evaluation exam and Capture The Flag (CTF) Challenge in the Training Environment)
  • P7 – Threat Evaluation (Instructor-Based with multiple choice questions evaluation exam and Capture The Flag (CTF) Challenge in the Training Environment)
  • P8 – Responding to a selection of known cyber-attacks in Power Grid (Instructor-Based with Cyber Range practical exercise)
  • P9 – Detecting a selection of cyber-attacks (in theory and in practice) in a timely manner (Instructor-Based with Cyber Range practical exercise)

After a trainee acquires the CAP certification, he/she can enroll to Intermediate level Training Modules. Following the successful completion of P6-P9 modules, a trainee is entitled to Intermediate Cybersecurity for the Power Grid domain (ICP) Certification, and he/she can enroll in the advanced training curriculum.

Advanced Level

  • P10 – Detecting and responding to unexpected cyberattacks (Instructor-Based with Cyber Range practical exercise)
  • P11 – Recovering in practice from a cyber-attack in Power Grid (Instructor-Based with Cyber Range practical exercise)
  • P12 – Different techniques to encrypt communication channels in Power Grid (Instructor-Based with Cyber Range practical exercise).

Following the successful completion of P10-P12 modules, a trainee is entitled to Cybersecurity Professional for the Power Grid domain (CPP) Certification.

The training schedule of the Power Grid pilot was performed over two weeks. During the first week, the training delivery of the P1 – P7 components was conducted, corresponding to the beginner level certification and the delivery of two modules from the intermediate level certificate. In the second week, the remaining of the intermediate training curricula was taught. The power Grid training curriculum concluded with the advanced hands-on exercises on the Cyber Range.  

After completing the related modules of the Power Grid pilot, the participants submitted a module-specific feedback form, that was used to evaluate the material and the training methods that were implemented. Five of the registered users managed to successfully complete all the related modules of the full Power Grid training path reaching to the Cybersecurity Professional (CPP) advanced-level certificate. 

FORESIGHT