Fall 2016 Research: Week 1

Ref 1:

Guimaraes, Mario, Huwida Said, and Richard Austin. "Using Video Games to Teach Security." Proceedings of the 16th Annual Joint Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education - ITiCSE '11 (2011): 346. ACM Digital Library. Web. 2 Sept. 2016.

This article describes a project to design educational video games as an aid to teaching security. The first section describes the need to create practical hands on security examples where the student is an active learner. This section explains why video games are a natural fit for educational software, particularly in the field of information security and assurance. The second section examines existing video game software and provides links to download them. The third section describes the three video game development environments adopted at Zayed university. Finally, the last section describes the video game prototypes developed for teaching security as well as the ones under construction. The overall focus of this article is on better user interfaces, simplicity of design, and remembering to teach ethics in addition to security.

Ref 2:

Herr, Christopher, and Dennis Allen. "Video Games as a Training Tool to Prepare the Next Generation of Cyber Warriors. "Proceedings of the 2015 ACM SIGMIS Conference on Computers and People Research - SIGMIS-CPR '15 (2015): n. page. Web. 6 Sept. 2016.

This article talks about the global shortage of more than 1 million skilled cyber-security professionals needed to address the current cyber-security challenges in America. It also speaks on the need to build, maintain, and defend computing resources. Lastly, this article discusses the main points that cyber-security video games should address. These four points are to: 1) grab the attention of young adults, 2) build a solid foundation of information security knowledge and skills, 3) inform players of potential career paths, and 4) establish a passion that drives them through higher education and professional growth. Lastly, it also gives a brief overview of the history of cyber-security simulation and game based training and how it has evolved.

Ref 3:

Jordan, Craig, Matt Knapp, Dan Mitchell, Mark Claypool, and Kathi Fisler. "CounterMeasures: A Game for Teaching Computer Security." 2011 10th Annual Workshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (2011): n. page. ACM Digital Library. Web.

This article talks about computer security and how it has become vital for protecting users, applications and data. However, the field of cyber-security still faces severe shortages in skilled professionals. From this article, it is hypothesized that a security game that closely emulates real-world systems can improve learning about computer security beyond simply reading technical documents. The security game described in the article, CounterMeasures, provides a game-type environment for learning and practicing security skills through a series of guided objectives. It uses a real, interactive shell for input and targets a real server for exploits to provide an environment resembling security systems currently deployed. It is a single player game with multiple missions, with each mission teaching a new cyber-security aspect.

Ref 4:

Monk, Thomas, Johan Niekerk Van, and Rossouw Solms Von. "Sweetening the Medicine: Educating Users about Information Security by Means of Game Play." Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Research Conference of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists on - SAICSIT '10 (2010): 193-200. ACM Digital Library. Web. 3 Sept. 2016.

This article was written based on the premise that a computer game could be used to teach employees about Information Security. For this reason, a game was developed with the aim of educating employees in this field of study. The goal was that if people were motivated to play the game, without any external motivation, then these people would also be motivated to learn about information security. This meant that another aim of this game was to be self-motivating. The article also says an experiment was conducted in order to test whether or not these aims were met. The experiment involved a play test group and a control group. The play test group played the game before completing a questionnaire, while the control group only completed the questionnaire.

Ref 5:

Chapman, Martin, Gareth Tyson, Peter Mcburney, Michael Luck, and Simon Parsons. "Playing Hide-and-seek: an abstract game for cyber security." Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Agents and CyberSecurity - ACySE '14 (2014): 1-8. ACM Digital Library. Web. 6 Sept. 2016.

This article begins by explaining how complex, technically detailed cyber-security ideas must be broken down into abstract representations for basic understanding. Here, classic security problems are transformed into an abstract game of hide-and-seek. The tools required in this game, such as strategic search and anticipation of an opponent’s likely strategies, are very similar to the tools required in many cyber security applications. For this reason, developing strategies in hide-and-seek can aid in the development of cyber-security strategies. In particular, this article focuses on the problems of attack attribution and attack pivoting.