Traditional cybersecurity training often suffers from poor engagement
Gamification creates interactive, compelling training experiences that significantly improve training outcomes and organizational security
Effective implementation requires a robust gamified lab as well as an understanding of game mechanics and one’s security landscape
There are very few people who actually enjoy learning about security. That’s not necessarily due to the subject matter, though.
Most cybersecurity training programs can be dry and cumbersome, overwhelming participants with too much information that they struggle to contextualize.
What if we told you there’s a way to cultivate cybersecurity awareness and improve security expertise without boring your employees to tears?
Cybersecurity training is a perfect candidate for gamification. Let’s talk about why gamified cybersecurity training is so effective, and how you can implement it within your own organization.
What Are Gamified Cybersecurity Labs?
A gamified cybersecurity lab combines interactive learning experiences with game mechanics such as leaderboards, points, badges, and challenges. It tends to work similarly to a cloud-based cyber range, delivering a scalable simulation that supports both knowledge acquisition and application. Rather than simply imitating real-world scenarios, these simulations are often gamified themselves.
Examples include:
Capture-the-Flag. Participants or teams compete to solve cybersecurity-focused puzzles to find hidden “flags” that allow them to progress
Escape Room. A timed, team-based contest where participants must complete multiple interconnected tasks or scenarios
Progressive Skill Challenges. A structured learning framework with increasingly difficult modules augmented by points, achievements and/or badges
Improved communication and collaboration between teams
Increased job satisfaction and loyalty
These benefits are most evident when applying gamification to cybersecurity awareness training. While security engineers are likely already passionate about topics like ransomware protection and phishing detection, general employees likely find them far less compelling. Introducing gamified elements gives them another reason to be interested.
Core Components of a Gamified Cybersecurity Lab
A virtual lab is the foundation of gamified security training, supporting the creation of sandboxed digital environments and scenarios. This is usually paired with most or all of the following:
A game engine for creating, managing, and monitoring challenges and rewards
A curated library of premade scenarios
Feedback and reward systems
Progression frameworks that unlock new challenges or content based on performance
Leaderboards
Integrated collaboration and communication tools such as chatrooms and message boards
Analytics and reporting systems for instructors and administrators
Best Practices for Cybersecurity Gamification
Integrating gamification into your cybersecurity training is immensely beneficial, but it can also be somewhat challenging if you’re unsure where to start. The best practices below provide a general framework for keeping things relevant, fresh, and engaging.
Understand Your Security Landscape
Start by reviewing the essential cybersecurity training topics in today’s climate. Work with your security team to determine which risks and threats are most relevant to your organization, and then use that as a starting point for your training.
Define Clear, Measurable Objectives
These could be anything from reduced incident response time to greater awareness of social engineering attacks. The good news about cybersecurity training is that it’s relatively easy to measure through assessments and evaluations.
Identify the Most Effective Game Mechanics
Each security scenario will lend itself well to a particular type of challenge, and each challenge is a better fit for certain game mechanics. For instance, scenarios built for individuals are often best paired with badges or achievements. Team-based challenges, on the other hand, usually lend themselves well to point systems or leaderboards.
Regularly Rotate Challenges
Most people don’t want to play the same game over and over again. That means they also won’t want to experience the same mechanics in their training. Set aside time every now and then to update and rotate your scenarios and challenges.
Bring Together Gamification and Training with CloudShare
Cybersecurity training doesn’t have to be painfully boring. With the right approach, it can be both exciting and entertaining.
Book a demo and we’ll show you how CloudShare’s hands-on virtual labs provide the perfect foundation for gamified security, from coding to awareness and prevention.
See Why Artificial Intelligence is the Next Frontier of Cybersecurity Training
To say that AI changed the world would be putting it lightly. It’s completely upended the cybersecurity space, and your training needs to reflect that. Check out How AI is Changing Cybersecurity Training and Simulation to learn how it can.
FAQs
What types of organizations benefit most from gamified cybersecurity labs?
Any company operating within a regulated industry or working with highly sensitive data benefits greatly from gamified security training. These may include banks, covered entities, care providers, government agencies, and educational institutions. With that said, in today’s hyperconnected digital climate, there arguably isn’t a single organization that doesn’t benefit in some way from gamified cybersecurity training.
What types of cybersecurity tasks work well in gamified scenarios?
Tasks such as ransomware investigations, breach containment, and phishing detection all translate especially well to a gamified scenario, as they typically have clearly-defined triggers and objectives. Vulnerability assessments, password security, and security awareness training can all benefit from point systems and achievements, while concepts such as penetration testing and digital forensics can be turned into friendly competitions.
Can gamified labs be integrated with virtual IT environments?
They can and should. Virtual IT environments allow an organization to simulate scenarios and incidents that would be far too dangerous and disruptive for a production environment, such as DDoS attacks and ransomware infections.
What role do leaderboards and competitions play in cybersecurity skill development?
Competitive elements tend to be highly motivating for many employees, resulting in higher engagement and improved knowledge retention. Employees competing with one another to reach the top of a leaderboard, for instance, will likely dedicate much more time and energy than if they were training in isolation.
How can gamified cybersecurity labs support compliance and regulatory training?
Gamified cybersecurity labs allow organizations to create engaging interactive scenarios that simultaneously confer and validate expertise, providing auditable data while also motivating employees to keep progressing.
