Image
credit: Red vs. Blue by ThreatGEN
The University of Houston announced late July that students in the
cybersecurity master’s program used an educational video game to demonstrate
their mastery of cybersecurity skills (source: Betsy Foresman, education
reporter for EdScoop).
“Typically, students in that program would complete a capstone project
in information systems security risk analysis to showcase their ability to
thwart cyberattacks, using the same tools professionals use to fend off
hackers. But the switch to distance learning this past semester meant that
students had to find a new way to demonstrate their skills in defending
networks.”
To allow students to showcase their skills and demonstrate the
cybersecurity defense techniques outside of the classroom, the university
partnered with the cybersecurity training company ThreatGEN, which
developed a cybersecurity Serious Game, called Red vs. Blue
ThreatGEN® Red vs. Blue is a
multi-player strategy computer game where players compete against each other,
head-to-head, to take control/maintain control of a computer network. This is
not a fiction-based game; this is a live, player vs. player training simulator,
designed to teach cybersecurity skills in an immersive and interactive applied
learning environment.
“The game
specifically focuses on the ability of students to defend industrial control
systems — which are used to monitor and control equipment ranging from traffic lights to refineries — and are a frequent target of cyberattacks,” said
Art Conklin, a computer science professor at the University of Houston.
In the
game players alternately roleplay attacking and defending industrial control
systems, with the red team formed by “hackers” and the blue team by the
defenders.
“The game provided students with a socially distant replacement for the
traditional final presentations they traditionally participate in,” Conklin
said. “And while the game didn’t allow students to physically operate the
equipment used by industry, it allowed them to problem-solve and react in
realistic ways,” he added.