On the Design of Security Games: From Frustrating to Engaging Learning

Hands-on cyber security training is generally accepted as an enjoyable and effective way of developing and practising skills that complement the knowledge gained by traditional education. At the same time, experience from organizing and participating in these events show that there is still room for making a larger impact on the learners, and providing more engaging and beneficial learning. In particular, the area of the game and exercise design is not sufficiently well-developed. There is no comprehensive methodology or best practices that can be used to prepare, test, and carry out events.

We present the concept of a security game and lessons learned from a prototype game played by 260 participants. Based on the lessons, we describe the enhancements to the game design and a user study evaluating new game features. The results of the study show the importance of logging events which describe the course of the game. It also suggests what type of information can be predicted from the game logs and what can be found by other methods such as surveys.