Comic-BEE supports NCCAW!
Explore cybersecurity careers with our web comics at no cost during NCCAW.

Here are some ideas on how you can use the comics as part of your NCCAW activities:

  • Start your NCCAW activity by reading a comic as a group, individually or in pairs (great for K12 students!) to explore different scenarios and see what happens with different choices.

  • Use one or more comics as a simple, hands-on, interactive activity after a lecture or discussion about careers. If you won’t have access to computers during your activity, give the link to participants as part of the take-away materials!

  • Make it a game or challenge! Comic-BEE will provide up to 25 free challenges on a first come, first served basis. Comic-BEE will automatically keep track of each player’s choices and time, and then automatically score each player. Each free challenge has a limit of 50 participants; if you are interested in a larger group, please contact us directly.

    • We provide you with 50 anonymous access codes to distribute to your users.
    • Challenge participants will see their individual score immediately after playing the comic.
    • Complete scores and rankings will be emailed to you at the end of your challenge period.
    • You can manually create a leaderboard – players give you their scores as they finish.

  • Cyberseek.org – Interactive tools and data on open cybersecurity jobs in your area, work roles and career pathways.

  • Start-engineering.com – Cybersecurity career guide and workbook for K12 students.

  • NICERC – Bold, colorful and informative Cybersecurity Career Profile posters.

Cyber Crime Investigation

Join the cyber crime investigation team at the “National Bureau of Investigations: as they investigate the theft of millions of dollars from multiple banks. See how the “digital footprints” of cyber criminals become clues and explore different cybersecurity roles. Can you help catch all the criminals involved in this cyber crime? Based on the real world Lurk malware investigation.

Target: K12 and college students, adults

Time: 7-12 minutes

Supplemental materials:

The Worm Turns

Follow Devon, the Help Desk support technician who discovers malware has slipped into his company’s network. Can you help him stop the worm from spreading? The focus is on managing anti-virus, patches and incident response in a corporate environment.

Target: K12 students in cyber clubs or competitions, high school and college students, adults

Time: 5 – 10 minutes

Supplemental materials:

Nmap Apprentice

Using command-line Nmap, the open-source tool for vulnerability scanning and network discovery, race to determine if your new company’s network is secure before any bad guys find a way in! This comic addresses basic commands, scanning strategy, and Nmap output.

Target: Beginner and intermediate Nmap users: members cyber clubs or competitions, adults

Time: 7 – 12 minutes

Supplemental materials:

Cyber Hygiene Comic

Follow Robin, a middle school student, as she tackles topics such as password strength, wireless router security, mobile security, and private v. public networks. Can she help keep her family secure online?

Target: Middle school students

Time: 5 – 8 minutes

Supplemental materials:

Cyber Ethics Comic

Seventh-grader Emma faces a series of ethical decisions about using digital technologies as she campaigns for Vice President of Student Council – will her campaign be a success or failure? You decide!

Target: Middle school students

Time: 5 – 8 minutes

Supplemental materials:

The Worm Turns Comic

Follow Devon, the Help Desk support technician who discovers malware has slipped into his organization’s Window’s based network as he tries to stop the worm from spreading! The focus is on managing anti-virus, patches and incident response in a corporate environment.

Target: High school and college students, advanced cyber club members*, entry-level IT and cyber security personnel

Time: 5 – 10 minutes

Supplemental materials:

*Advanced cyber club members = e.g., experienced Cyber Patriot or other K-12 competition team members.

Nmap Comic

Using command-line Nmap, the open-source tool for vulnerability scanning and network discovery, it’s a race to determine if the network in the comic is secure before the bad guys find a way in! This comic addresses basic commands, the strategy of how to scan and when to use specific options, and understanding the output of nmap.

Target: Beginner and intermediate Nmap users, high school students, college students, advanced cyber club members*

Time: 7 – 12 minutes

Supplemental materials:

*Advanced cyber club members = e.g., experienced Cyber Patriot or other K-12 competition team members.

Cyber challenges and competitions

To run a cyber game or challenge with one of these comics, please select the scored version of that comic in the form below.  You will receive a spreadsheet with 50 anonymous access codes via email.

We ask that teachers or organizers request access for their entire class / event and distribute the codes to students / participants.

When your competition is over, we will email you a ranked list of all scores. You may choose to have participants write their score down when they finish the comic, and use that to create a “leaderboard” onsite.

To request access, please fill out the form below

Form submissions are currently closed.

Try again next year.