Networks are everywhere, and so are the threats against them. Yet few students get to configure real equipment or think like an attacker before their first job. Since its early years, our Student Branch has given members the chance to do both — hands-on, in our own laboratory.
Learning on real equipment
Our activities started with the basics. Members have worked with material from the Cisco Networking Academy and configured real routers, switches and Wi-Fi access points. In 2017 a workshop taught members how to build and test Ethernet cables, and our IT volunteers maintain the lab’s workstations every year.
Staying safe online
Security is not only for specialists. Over the years we have organised talks open to everyone:
- Safe Internet Navigation (2019)
- Password Security and Management (January 2021)
- tips for staying protected online on International Cyber Security Day (2024)
The Cyber Security team
In the 2024–2025 academic year the Branch formed a dedicated Cyber Security team, coordinated by Konstantinos Terpsis. The team works on practical security topics in the lab, and several board members list cyber security as their main field of interest.
Containers, home labs and clusters
Modern infrastructure runs on containers and clusters, and so do our projects:
- Docker & Home Lab workshop (March 2026): a two-part workshop by Panagiotis Kavakopoulos, in collaboration with ΕΕΛΛΑΚ, on containers, home labs and hosting real web applications.
- Raspberry Pi Kubernetes Cluster (2024): built by the Kastoria Linux Society and presented at FOSSCOMM 2024 (see Building a Raspberry Pi Cluster).
- Research: members co-authored the paper “Evaluating Lightweight Kubernetes Distributions on Heterogeneous ARM64 Edge Clusters”, which won the Best Student Paper Award in Informatics at SEEDA-CECNSM 2026.
Join us
Interested in networks, Linux or security? Contact us at ieeesbkastoria@uowm.gr or @ieeesbkastoria.