Aries Security

Aries Security is a cybersecurity research, education and awareness provider founded in 2008 by Brian Markus and Joseph Mlodzianowski.

It has developed a cyber training skill assessment suite and offers content for all levels of ability. Beyond these services, Aries Security also provides advisory services, prototyping, research and development, live training events, and competitions.

Capture The Packet is Aries Security main product. It offers a cybersecurity training simulator and skills assessment suite. The system can be used as a teaching aid, learning system, skills assessment, and vetting tool. The system offers a gamified learning environment to try and help people learn advanced skills and concepts faster and test their skills against others. Capture The Packet has been provided to commercial, military, and government agencies in multiple countries.

Through Capture The Packet, participants are encouraged to use a broad library of available tools and methods to solve challenges. For those that need help, a built-in hint system and knowledge base is available. The learning provided through its program is considered non-traditional, but the company claims its security suite increases skill retention and pushes participants to develop critical problem-solving skills in an ever changing and adaptive cyber threat environment.

Capture the Packet also offers force-on-force training to provide offensive teams a way to learn how to defend against challenges or exploits they may need to employ. They offer a "Capture the Flag" module to help develop the skills of offensive cyber operators.

Aries Security offers Capture The Packet through a Remote Desktop Gateway and also through a portable, pre-configured physical package.

Aries Security offers various event-based learning modules for security awareness and training events. They have participated in 114 events as of late 2020, and these have included DEF CON, RSA Security Conference, CyberShield Conference, Cisco Federal, Reby Gauntlet, National Defense University, Hacker Halted, Layer One, and Toorcon.

Packet Inspector is a specialized deployment of Capture The Packet with a targeted difficulty intended for beginners with on-hand staff to help in training those beginners.

Packet Detective is a specialized deployment of Capture The Packet which acts as a "medium" difficulty deployment configured for either quick learning beginners or intermediate learners and offers support staff.

Aries Security's Wall Of Sheep is an interactive learning module for events which offers a look into how poor security practices can leave individuals and larger organizations vulnerable. This includes learning how information such as passwords are captured in real time.

Similar to the Wall Of Sheep, Aries Security's Sheep City is an interactive learning module for events which offers users the ability to interact with real world internet-of-things devices on a local network and cause those devices to work incorrectly.

Sheep Hunt is an interactive learning module for events in which players are given tracking antennas to engage in a scavenger hunt to track down wireless beacons.

Aries Security's Lock Gauntlet is an event for players wanting to learn or improve their physical lock picking skills. The event provides locks ranging in difficulty for players to try and unlock.

In their Tamper Evident learning module, Aries Security offers players and learners a chance to learn what to look for in tampered documents through first-hand learning. This includes custom packages with various tamper devices and grade contestants on their ability to get in and out unnoticed.