Hands-on cyber-physical course returns to Nashville

Organizers and MTSI will run the Cyber Attack Methods (CAM) hands-on course Oct. 6-8 at the W Nashville as part of the 25th-anniversary ICS Cybersecurity Conference. The course places participants in an intentionally vulnerable virtual environment to practice system discovery, vulnerability exploitation and mission-focused attacks.

Participants use a self-contained virtual machine to move through the attack lifecycle, from initial enumeration to chaining weaknesses that produce operational effects. Exercises are designed to show how separate technical faults can be combined to affect safety, productivity, mission readiness and critical services.

The course is aimed at people who design, build, test and protect industrial control and cyber-physical systems, including systems engineers, programmers, developers, designers, testers and security professionals. No previous cybersecurity experience is required; familiarity with the Linux command line and some programming experience will help students complete the hands-on tasks.

Training begins with a full day of instruction Tuesday, Oct. 6, followed by half-day sessions Wednesday and Thursday. When training is not in session, participants may attend conference presentations, networking events and meals.

Registration costs $3,995 and covers the full CAM course, a virtual machine containing the simulation and exercises, a course completion certificate, access to conference sessions, and conference meals and social functions. Students may keep the virtual machine after the event. Participants must bring an Intel-based laptop capable of running the virtual machine; ARM-based MacBooks are not supported. Enrollment is limited and the course is available only to U.S. citizens.

MTSI’s cyber-physical systems team is co-presenting the course. Team members have experience in hacking, reverse engineering and penetration testing across aviation, maritime, weapons and defense systems and have competed in capture-the-flag events focused on industrial control systems and biohacking.

The 2026 ICS Cybersecurity Conference runs Oct. 6-8 at the W Nashville and marks the event’s 25th anniversary. Organizers advise potential attendees to register early for the CAM course because seats are limited.