Pwn.college

pwn.college is a free, hands-on cybersecurity learning platform maintained by hackers at Arizona State University and used in much of the university’s cybersecurity curriculum. It teaches security by building from core computing skills: learners work in a terminal, interact with systems and networks, and complete practical challenges. Progress is framed as earning hacker belts, beginning with a white belt. The recommended path starts with “42 Hacking,” which has two modules and ten challenges; completing each step reveals the next. Learners can also explore side quests and community-created dojos, or work through the broader materials at their own pace.

The platform is intended for education, including university courses, and asks users not to publish challenge writeups, solution videos, or livestreams that could undermine its use in teaching and assessment. Educators may use its lecture videos and slides for noncommercial purposes with attribution, and institutions can import challenges or add their own in private dojos. The underlying infrastructure is open source, though some challenge modules are not; collaboration and contributions are welcomed. For continued practice beyond the platform, it recommends ethical competitions such as capture-the-flag events, untimed wargames, and other learning sites. Its resources include lectures, livestreams, community chat, and code repositories.