Teaching With Microcontrollers: Hope for Ethical Hacking Education on a Budget

The speaker, a security researcher who runs outreach and live-stream education, starts from a budget problem. Raspberry Pi boards have become expensive, and classes built around them are harder to run at scale. He describes a series of workshops and grant-funded camps in Montana, Los Angeles and at conferences, and explains why earlier microcontroller classes often failed: serial port access, drivers, compilers, flashing steps and unreliable USB cables routinely stalled the room.

The main fix he presents is a short list of student requirements: a Chrome browser, a data-capable USB cable and working serial access. Web Serial lets students flash and talk to boards from the browser, while CircuitPython and MicroPython remove the compile step so students can edit files and see results immediately. He compares several boards, including the ESP8266, ESP32-S2 and S3 and the Raspberry Pi Pico, covering Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, native USB and price. He also shows low-cost projects such as a 3D-printed LED light box, a soldered hex-leaf kit and a beginner-focused bad USB device, and recounts how students responded to each.

He closes with practical advice on running these programs: settle ethics and consent with a venue before proposing a class, use local makerspace printers to cut costs, reframe offensive Wi-Fi material as defensive auditing when venues object, and document successful classes to strengthen grant applications. The takeaway is a repeatable model for hands-on security teaching with minimal setup.