Abstract
As technology advances, the need for education on the security of these technologies becomes increasingly critical. However, security education predominantly targets post-secondary curricula, leaving high school learners with limited engaging resources. To address the growing demand for high school cybersecurity education, as highlighted by the College Board’s AP Career Kickstart Cybersecurity Pilot Program, this paper bridges the gap by introducing a practical and engaging mini-unit focused on autonomous vehicle security. Autonomous vehicles represent a cutting-edge domain with interconnected systems vulnerable to cyberattacks, including remote vehicle control, adversarial attacks on vision systems, and exploits on keyless entry systems. Drawing from teaching experience and feedback from five high school educators, we present nine labs designed to teach cybersecurity concepts through hands-on exploration of autonomous vehicle systems. These labs are divided into three sections—CAN bus security, key fob security, and security with AI road image processors—each with progressive levels of complexity. Students engage in activities ranging from simulations of replay attacks and adversarial manipulations on road signs to experimenting with hacking hardware and programming AI models. High-profile real-world incidents, like the 2015 Jeep Cherokee hack and Tesla Model 3 vulnerabilities, highlight the urgent need to integrate these topics into cybersecurity education. Our hands-on labs bring this critical learning experience to high school students, equipping them with the skills and awareness to tackle emerging challenges, and sparking their interest in postsecondary education and career pathways in the field of cybersecurity.