Creative Dad CompanyCreative Dad Company
TechnologyMath

Cybersecurity Training Mission

Log in to save
Grades 6-860-75 minSource: Creative Dad Company

Teams role-play as a security team defending a fake company account, learning how weak passwords, phishing tricks, and human mistakes open the door for attackers.

Budget levels

Amazon prices checked Oct 9-10, 2026 and may change

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Start

Digital downloads only.

$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.

Student time: one class period, one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one class period on a single day.

Scale back: Fit it into a shorter period, use fewer effects, or run a demo instead of a build.

Scale up: Add one extra effect, or spread the share-out across another day.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

  • StopwatchBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • calculatorBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • index cards for verification codesBorrow or school hasuse what you have
  • decision matrix worksheetPrintinguse what you have

Full Experience

Required materials for the class.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day.

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one school day.

Scale back: Fit the build into one period with fewer effects.

Scale up: Spread the work across days, or add more effects.

Total Transformation

The bigger kit, with every optional item included.

$0 per class (class of about 30, 6 groups).

Student time: one day (one session, one-day event).

Teacher prep / build-ahead: separate from student time.

Scale it

The default plan is one session, a one-day event.

Scale back: Shorten the event, or run a demo for a smaller audience.

Scale up: Spread the build and the event across days, or invite a bigger audience.

Choose your version

Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Student time: 30 min, one class periodTeacher prep / build-ahead: 15 min$0 to buy. Printing noted separately.One table or a clear section of floorBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or hand-copy the essential prompt for Cybersecurity Training Mission, then set out only paper, pencils, and the common or recycled items needed for one test. Use a tabletop representation whenever the original version mentions a room, specialized device, or digital tool; the learning comes from the decisions and evidence, not elaborate scenery.

Activity

  1. Define the central success test in Cybersecurity Training Mission and make a paper planning sheet for the inputs, actions, and expected result.
  2. Represent the system without electronics by using labeled cards, paper controls, tokens, a ruler, or a student acting as the device; follow the same cause-and-effect rules described in the project.
  3. Run at least three cases, including one difficult or unexpected case, and record input examples, operating rules, predicted outputs, and actual outputs.
  4. Revise one rule, layout, mechanism, or decision after the failed case, repeat it, and explain with the recorded evidence whether the change worked.

Ambiance video

Ambiance video coming soon from Creative Dad Studio

Done when: The group has completed Cybersecurity Training Mission when it can report the incident to company leadership, explaining what happened and how the new defense stops it next time and point to the observation, measurement, comparison, or trial that supports its conclusion.

Materials

printed sample emails, index cards, sticky notes, timer, whiteboard or poster board; Stopwatch; calculator; index cards for verification codes; decision matrix worksheet

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Materials links go to Amazon. Prices are estimates and may change.

As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases.

Steps

  1. Review sample emails and predict which are phishing attempts. Record the clues used.
  2. As a class, agree on criteria and constraints for the fake company's login system: estimated time to crack by guessing at 1,000 guesses per second, average login time under 20 seconds, phishing round survival, and no added cost to the company.
  3. Each team designs two or three competing systems, for example an 8-character password rule, a 4-word passphrase, and a password plus a verification code card.
  4. Test every design: calculate the number of possible combinations and time to crack, time 5 teammates logging in, and run a phishing round where an attacker team tries to trick users into giving up the login. Record all results in a table.
  5. Score each design from 1 to 5 on every criterion in a weighted decision matrix, check each against the constraints, and total the scores.
  6. Find the weakest score of the winning design, patch that weak point, and retest just that criterion.
  7. Report to company leadership with the matrix, test data, and the patch.

Standards mapped

  • NGSS · MS-ETS1-2

    Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.