Although cybersecurity is becoming more and more central in every software development lifecycle, nowadays, developers often lack a precise understanding of the risk and impact of attacks. Discovering vulnerabilities in production environments is hard, but making developers aware of common vulnerabilities leads to more reliable software and an easier and more effective vulnerability assessment process.

In this work, we present an experience at the University of Genova aimed at spreading cybersecurity awareness among Computer Science and Computer Engineering students. During this experience, we found that practical, non-formal training had a substantial impact on cybersecurity awareness of the students that will become developers in the future.