🛠 Admin Setup Instructions
To start your setup, please contact your appointed account Solutions Engineer from the HTB Enterprise platform team. Your contact point will provide you with a required Dynamic Registration URL to use during the setup.
1-Setup the LTI Advantage tool
Brightspace considers all external services as Tools that integrate with the LMS. To setup the Hack the box Enterprise Platform as an external tool for Brightspace, follow these steps:
Navigate to Manage Extensibility
Then navigate to the LTI Advantage tab
Click the Register Tool button on the top right, choose the Dynamic Registration option, and paste the
Dynamic Registration URLin the Tool initiation registration endpoint input field. Leave the Configure Deployment option checked. If another registration code is enabled or disabled with the nameHack The Box's external LTI tooland domain (URL of the Enterprise platform) that exists, then the dynamic registration will fail.
Hitting Register, you land on an LTI Tool settings page with most of the fields filled up due to the dynamic Registration URL. While in this page, ensure that you give a unique and memorable Name to the created LTI Tool, e.g,. “Hack the box Enterprise Platform LTI”
Additionally, while in this page, enable:
Extensions > Deep Linking [REQUIRED], this allows learners to navigate to courses and assignments from HTB Enterprise Platform.
Extensions > Assignment and Grade Services, this is an optional field to update Brighspace when a course or assignment is fully complete on the Hack the box Enterprise Platform.
Roles > Send Institution Role, that’s an optional field to allow for eponymous account creation on the Hack the box Enterprise Platform side.
Clicking Save, you have now registered Hack the box Enterprise Platform as a new LTI Tool for Brightspace.
2-Deploy LTI Tool
To make this LTI Tool available in Brightspace you need to create a new Deployment for the just-created LTI registration. Here are the steps to do this:
While in the HTB Enterprise LTI Tool Settings, navigate to the bottom and click View Deployments. Deployments allow sharing of registered tools in Brightspace to specific org units or decedents of parent org units.
You will land on the Deployments list interface, where all existing deployments are visible. To continue make sure that the Registration dropdown has the proper LTI tool selected, as per our example above, “HTB Enterprise Platform LTI” should be selected, and click New Deployment.
When in the Deploy Tool interface select the proper Register Tool in the Tool dropdown (based on our example this should be “HTB Enterprise Platform LTI”), and give your Deploy tool a Name in the respecting field.
Extension options are inherited from your Registered tool as seen on the screenshot above. Please make sure that Deep Linking is selected.
Under Security settings you have the option to setup what information you can share with HTB Enterprise for all students taking courses with HTB Enterprise Platform content:
Leaving no option selected or selecting Anonymous, students landing on HTB Enterprise Platform are getting an encoded username with no additional information.
Org Unit Information will allow you to relate Brightspace courses with how content is organized on the HTB Enterprise Platform side. Grouping of courses on HTB Enterprise platform will share the same naming of your Courses on Brightspace.
Selecting User Information the selected fields are populating the user created on the HTB Enterprise Platform side.
Link Information [REQUIRED], refers to the details of the course or assignment that will be shared to the HTB Enterprise platform.
Under Configuration Settings pick the options that apply to your case:
Open as External Resource [REQUIRED], this is needed in order for the LTI integration to work correctly.
Grades created by LTI will be included in Final Grade, is optional to enable based on how you setup your courses. Checking or unchecking this checkbox will only affect new grade items created by the tool under this deployment.
Auto Create Grade Items, is optional too allowing to automatically create a grade item when this tool sends a score. This will not happen if a grade item already exists.
ℹ️ This option enables grading passback for each HTB Enterprise Platform Content you add to your courses.
Finally, you will need to setup the organization unit this tool will be available to. To do that navigate to the bottom of the page and click the Add Org Units option. A modal opens where your organization is preselected by default. You can search for specific Departments or Courses to make this tool available too. Choose the options of interest and click Add.
Hitting Save, you have now registered HTB Enterprise Platform deployment.
3-Enable Deep Linking
Finally to enable the deep linking (select content) functionality you need to create a link. Here are the steps to do this:
While in the HTB Enterprise Deployment Settings, navigate to the bottom and click View Links. Links allow to add content to the platform from a list of the HTB Enterprise Platform on the allowed courses or assignments that we have specified in the deployment settings.
You will land on the Links list interface where all existing deployments are visible. To continue ensure that on the right top corner above the buttons we are in the correct deployment , as per our example above “HTB Enterprise Platform LTI” should be selected, and click New Link.
When in the Link interface give :
Name of the link that the teachers will see. For convenience use the same name you are already using to define the integration “HTB Enterprise Platform LTI”
URL of the HTB Enterprise Platform,
https://enterprise.hackthebox.com. This link acts as the default fallback if a course is not available.Description of the link (optional)
Type should be only the
Deep Linking Quicklinkin order of the deep linking to work properly.
Everything is ready, so you can click Save at the bottom of the page to make HTB Enterprise Platform LTI link available to Brightspace courses.
📖 Course creation with HTB Enterprise Platform content
Before creating a course, make sure to setup the proper Course Template that your course will be using. There are no restrictions around Course Templates and the LTI integration to the HTB Enterprise Platform.
Let’s see how to create a new Course that supports HTB Enterprise Platform Content:
Navigate to Courses, Click Gear Icon > Course Related > Courses
Click Create Course and setup:
Course Name
Course Code
Department, make sure that the selected Department is also assigned to the Org Unit in the HTB Enterprise Platform LTI deployment you set up above (2.Deploy LTI tool: Step 7) .
Course Template
Setup Dates and Visibility for your Course to be accessible by Learners.
Please make sure to assign an instructor for your Course if you want them to setup actual courses and assignments.
🪑Seat Allocation
HTB Enterprise Platform works with seat allocation as part of the subscription. So, to setup the LTI integration you need an HTB Enterprise subscription for your organization that comes with specific seat quota and HTB Content access limitations.
Your subscription and limitations are available in the HTB Enterprise Platform under Manage > Company > Settings, in the Subscriptions tab. At any point you can Contact HTB team to upgrade your subscription into increasing your seat quota.
Using LTI integration, seats are automatically assigned to the students that engage with HTB Content through a course. Students occupy a seat as long as they have engaged with HTB Content. As long as a student is engaged with HTB Content that is not completed yet and there are seats available, this student will keep the assigned seat.
In the case where all seats available in your HTB Enterprise subscription are occupied by students you have a few ways to unblock access to students:
Automatically, when a student completes an HTB Content and all seats are occupied the student is removed from that seat to make it available for another student. Now if that student chooses to engage with another HTB Content of a course, she is automatically assigned that seat.
Manual, by visiting the HTB Enterprise Platform interface as an administrator and removing seat for a user in the User Management interface.
Upgrading your subscription, by contacting HTB team to purchase more seats.
👨🏫 Instructor Experience
Adding HTB Enterprise Platform Content in a Course
To add HTB Enterprise Platform Content in a course, you must be a Course Instructor for that course or a Brightspace administrator.
Navigate in your Course and follow these instructions:
Visit Content tab of the Course and either Create new Unit or pick an existing one.
Click the Add Existing button on the top right of the page
Choose the option related to HTB Enterprise Platform LTI. To locate the correct Tool you will need to connect with your administrators so that they communicate the proper name used, in our documentation we use the name “HTB Enterprise Platform LTI”.
You will now see a modal with all the available resources from HTB Enterprise Platform. This interface gives you access to cybersec training material of various types and difficulties. You can find out more about the available HTB Enterprise Platform content in these links dedicated to: Modules, Machines & Challenges, and Sherlocks.
In this modal you can:
Choose for a specific type of content to add by using the tabs at the top for: Machines, Challenges, Sherlocks, Modules
Use filters or search to find specific content of interest.
Filters are available for:Content Difficulty: Referring to how hard or easy is each content piece, ranging from Very Easy to Insane
Content Tier: Referring to how rare or common are the techniques, vectors, tools required in order to solve the specific cybersec countent, ranging from
Tier 0: very commonall the way toTier 4: very niche.
You can add a specific HTB Enterprise Content piece by clicking the Add button in the content of interest, and then clicking the “Save” button at the bottom of the modal.
You can also add multiple HTB Enterprise Platform Content pieces of the same type (either Modules, or Machines, or Challenges, or Sherlocks) by clicking the Add button in the contents of interest and then clicking the Save button.
Clicking Save the specific Unit will be populated with the selected HTB Enterprise Platform Content.
You can repeat the process to add more content or create more Units in your course.
Adding HTB Enterprise Platform Content as a Course Assignment
To add HTB Enterprise Platform Content in a course you must be a Course Instructor for that course or a Brightspace administrator.
Navigate in your Course and follow these instructions:
Select the Assignments tab
Click New Assignment and populate the Assignment information. Please note, that you are able to create exactly one assignment with a specific HTB Enterprise Platform Content piece.
Click on the Attach Link to Existing Activity Icon
On the modal to insert Quicklink, navigate to Third Party and select the HTB Enterprise Platform tool selector. To locate the correct Tool you will need to connect with your administrators so that they communicate the proper name used, in our documentation, we use the name “HTB Enterprise Platform LTI”
The Insert Quicklink modal updates to display the HTB Enterprise LTI Deep Linking interface that allows you to select a single piece of Content.
In this modal, you can:
Choose for a specific type of content to add by using the tabs at the top for: Machines, Challenges, Sherlocks, Modules
Use filters or search to find specific content of interest.
Filters are available for:
Content Difficulty: Referring to how hard or easy is each content piece, ranging from Very Easy to Insane
Content Tier: Referring to how rare or common are the techniques, vectors, tools required in order to solve the specific cybersec countent, ranging from
Tier 0: very commonall the way toTier 4: very niche.
You can add a specific HTB Enterprise Content piece as an Assignment by clicking the Add button in the content of interest, and then clicking the “Save” button at the bottom of the modal.
Clicking Save in the Insert Quicklink modal, the Assignment for the specific Content piece is created and you can Save and Close to finalize the Assignment Setup.
Brightspace supports a preview for the Attached assignment while in the Assignment setup page. For the HTB Enterprise Platform LTI integration this preview is NOT displaying the actual Content assignment as both requirements needs to be fulfilled:
You need to login to HTB Enterprise Platform to be able to see the Content.
You need to be assigned a seat for the specific Content to check it out.
Both requirements apply for learners assigned on the course but NOT for Brightspace Administrators or Instructors that setup the course.
Course setup on the HTB Enterprise Platform side
Publishing a course in Brightspace with HTB Enterprise Platform content added there, you create a structure called Space on the HTB Enterprise Platform side. A Space is a collection of HTB content assigned to specific users in the Platform.
Depending on the type of content added either one or two Spaces are created in the HTB Enterprise Platform, specifically:
For all Modules content assigned, there is an Academy Space created in the platform holding the same name as your Brightspace Course.
For all Machines, Sherlocks, or Challenges content assigned, a Dedicated Lab Space is created in the Platform, with the same name as your Brightspace Course.
Course Spaces in the HTB Enterprise Platform are populated on demand, when a student starts engaging with a Course assignment.
If you have credentials to access the HTB Enterprise Platform to check your created Course you might see the following states for the Spaces with your Course name:
Spaces don’t have any content assigned, this means that no student you have already assigned to the Brightspace course has started engaging with the HTB content yet.
Spaces have less HTB content assigned than your Course assignments in Brightspace, this means that assigned students have engaged with some parts of the assigned HTB Content - the one already visible in the Space.
HTB content in Spaces matches the content assigned in the Brightspace course, this means that students have engaged with all of the assigned HTB content and Spaces are fully populated with the relevant content.
Progress Preview
When in a Course, click Class Progress to how each assigned learner has progressed with assigned content. HTB Enterprise Platform Content is updated as Completed when the whole course is done on the HTB Enterprise Platform side.
Add participants to the course
Navigate to Classlist and click the Add Participants option.
🧑🎓Learner experience
Navigate to a course of interest and visit the Content tab for that course.
When you pick a course from HTB Enterprise Platform you will see an option to open a link to a new web browser tab.
When learners click on the button to open the course in a new browser tab, they land on the specific course in the HTB Enterprise Platform.
This page keeps the students focused on the specific course. Some key interface elements to notice:
Option to Connect to HTB on the top left corner of the interface: Some of the courses require connection to a VPN service in order to interact with the course material. Through this option students can connect to HTB and continue engaging with the content.
Learner’s username on the top left, next to Connect to HTB option displays a random username or the actual username, depending on what Brightspace was allowed to sync with the HTB Enterprise Platform through the LTI integration.
To check the specifics for each HTB Content type available follow these links:
Learners cannot access HTB Content of a Course
To get access to a specific HTB Content piece as a learner you occupy a seat in the HTB Enterprise Platform. In most of the cases, you can freely access HTB Content through a Brightspace Course.
In the case you cannot access HTB Enterprise platform to engage with a specific HTB Content piece, reachout to your Brightspace Instructor or Brightspace administrator to help you sort this out.