· By Codomo Singapore
The Top 10 Cybersecurity Games Your Employees Need to Play
Cybersecurity is a crucial concept. However, it can be difficult to understand. In 2021, data breaches exposed 22 billion records and the average cost of a data breach to a business can range from $120,000 to $1.24 million.
Therefore, it is important that your company is protected from any form of cyberattacks. Your employees must be aware of the dangers of cyberattacks and how to prevent them.
Cybersecurity awareness is vital as technology is becoming a more essential part of our lives. This is a list of offline games that you can use to teach your team how to protect themselves, and your company from cyberattacks.
1. Backdoors and Breaches
Backdoors and Breaches is an incident response card game. This game contains 52 unique cards to help you conduct incident response tabletop exercises. It takes four cards to build an incident, one from each attack category (Initial Compromise, Pivot and Escalate, Persistence, and C2 and Exfil), and there are 3,840 Incident Scenarios.
Players will learn attack tactics, tools, and methods in order to maintain their cybersecurity. This game requires intuitive thinking in order to win. It is great for teams to bond outside of the work environment.
https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/projects/backdoorsandbreaches/
2. Riskio
Riskio is a tabletop game to increase cyber security awareness for people with no-technical background to people with an IT technology background. In this game, players learn about cyber security attacks and defences by playing both the role of the attacker and the defender of critical assets in a fictitious organisation.
The main objective is to create a learning environment to teach players to identify security vulnerabilities and appropriate defences. This game is perfect for team bonding with your employees as it creates a fun rivalry between two teams.
3. Potato Pirates: Enter The Spudnet
Enter The Spudnet is a board game on cybersecurity and computer networking. Players learn about networking concepts in this cyber-fueled game. Players form alliances only to betray their friends with cybercrime or rally against the bots and ensure everyone survives. This game can be used for game nights with your colleagues or training sessions with your employees.
It is a fun way to introduce and develop one’s knowledge of cybersecurity despite their prior experience in the technology world. It can be enjoyed by all ages with the ability to play competitive or cooperative modes depending on the situation.
https://potatopirates.game/products/enter-the-spudnet-family-board-games
4. Cyber Threat Defender
Cyber Threat Defender is a multi-player card game designed to teach necessary cybersecurity information and strategies. This game is easy-to-play and engaging, regardless of skill level.
Players will learn basic cybersecurity terminology, reinforce understanding of network infrastructure, learn about the relationships between cyber-attacks and defense countermeasures, and gain an appreciation of the facts and historical information connected to this STEM field. Players must protect themselves from attacks while building robust networks in order to become a true Cyber Threat Defender.
5. Data Heist
Data Heist is a card game that educates players on topics related to Data Protection and Personal Cyber Hygiene. Players play the role of an amateur hackers and the aim of the game is to “steal” as much data from unsuspecting victims using three of the most common forms of attacks that result in data loss.
This game is a simple, fun, and engaging way to educate players on cybersecurity by creating a tabletop simulation of how hacking takes place. It allows your employees to further build their knowledge on cybersecurity as it has additional features and rules in place to engage more mature players.
6. Decisions & Disruptions
Decisions & Disruptions is a role-playing game about security in industrial control systems. Players are challenged with managing the security of a small utility company. They are given a budget that they can spend among a range of different defensive options.
Players need to make decisions, taking into account the number of potential threats, known vulnerabilities of the infrastructure, past and ongoing cyber attacks, and budget limitations. Your employees will learn about real threats to your company through playing the game and hence they will be more vigilant of cyber attacks on a daily basis.
https://sites.google.com/view/decisions-disruptions/
7. [D0x3d!]
[d0x3d!] is a board game designed to educate players on network security terminology, attack & defence mechanics, and basic security constructs. It will give your employees the confidence to identify different methods of protecting your company’s data allowing them to create good cyber security habits.
Its mechanics feature cooperative play, set collection, variable player powers in an action-point allowance system, and a modular board that simulates a network topology. This game is perfect to introduce the concept of cybersecurity awareness and data protection to beginners to learn the basics in a cooperative group setting.
http://d0x3d.com/d0x3d/welcome.html
8. Hacker
In this game, players will take on the role of a coder, hacker, and security engineer. There are 40 beginners to expert challenges with each challenge including three phases of play for a total of 120 coding puzzles.
As a player, you must program your agents to collect data chips while avoiding viruses and alarms. As you discover how a real hacker can damage your programs, you will learn how to secure them from future attacks. This game can be played by a range of age groups in workshops or training sessions.
You can use this as a way to bond with your employees as all of you will be able to use what you have learned in real-life scenarios and apply your knowledge to protect your company’s data from potential hackers.
https://www.thinkfun.com/products/hacker/
9. OWASP Cornucopia
OWASP Cornucopia is a card game for teams to learn how to identify security requirements and develop security-based user stories in development processes.
It attempts to introduce threat-modelling ideas to teams that are focused on learning about web application weaknesses and later branching out to learning how to identify data protection weaknesses of organisations and other types of software vulnerabilities. This game can be played in a group setting in training sessions to build your employees’ knowledge on protecting your company’s data.
https://owasp.org/www-project-cornucopia/
10. PeriHack
PeriHack is a board game to learn about cybersecurity. A turn-based game where one attacker (red team) tries to find and exploit a vulnerability in the defender's (blue team) network.
Your employees will learn about the vocabulary related to data protection and cyber security and develop an awareness of the online threats and possible ways scammers work in addition to being able to recognise common types of cyber attacks. This game can also be used as a group bonding activity as the employees will be split into teams where they have to work together.
https://github.com/rdillon73/PeriHack
Conclusion
These are just 10 out of many games that can be used to teach your employees about the importance of cybersecurity in addition to some methods to prevent oneself from being a victim of cyber crimes.
These games can be used in training sessions, workshops, game nights, and many other scenarios as a way of not only bonding with your team but educating them on cyber security and increasing cybersecurity awareness.
Awareness and understanding that every organization and individual is susceptible to attacks are necessary for you and your employees to take the next steps to maintain and strengthen your cybersecurity.