A curated list of free, hands-on educational resources for learning cybersecurity through practical exercises and CTF challenges.
Awesome Cyber Security University is a curated, open-source collection of free educational resources designed to teach cybersecurity through practical, hands-on exercises. It provides structured learning paths for both offensive (Red Team) and defensive (Blue Team) security, covering topics from basic Linux fundamentals to advanced exploitation and forensics. The project solves the problem of accessing high-quality, free cybersecurity training by aggregating interactive labs, CTF challenges, and guided rooms from platforms like TryHackMe and HackTheBox.
Aspiring cybersecurity professionals, students, and self-learners seeking free, practical training in penetration testing, digital forensics, and security operations. It's ideal for beginners starting their cybersecurity journey and intermediate learners looking to solidify skills through structured, hands-on challenges.
Developers and learners choose this resource because it offers a completely free, well-organized curriculum focused on learning by doing, unlike many paid or unstructured alternatives. Its unique value lies in combining curated content from multiple platforms into linear, difficulty-progressive paths with completion incentives, making it a comprehensive and accessible starting point for cybersecurity education.
🎓 Because Education should be free. Contributions welcome! 🕵️
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.
Organized into six linear parts from introduction to extremely hard challenges, with a recommended completion order, as outlined in the README's contents section.
Curates exclusively free educational resources from platforms like TryHackMe and HackTheBox, ensuring no cost barriers, as emphasized in the project philosophy.
Emphasizes learning by doing with direct links to interactive rooms, CTFs, and labs, providing practical experience across both Red and Blue Team paths.
Offers separate, comprehensive paths for offensive (Red Team) and defensive (Blue Team) security, covering from tooling to advanced techniques like reverse engineering and forensics.
Includes hidden badges for completing Red and Blue Team paths, encouraging progress and providing proof of skill, as detailed in the badge sections of the README.
Relies entirely on third-party sites like TryHackMe and CyberDefenders; if these platforms change or remove content, the learning path becomes broken or incomplete.
Acts solely as a curated list without creating its own lessons or tutorials, limiting depth and customization compared to dedicated course providers.
Provides links but lacks detailed explanations, progress tracking, or community features, assuming learners can independently navigate external challenges.
Depends on community contributions for updates; some links or challenges may become outdated without regular maintenance, as noted in the contribution section.