How to Bring Gamification to Cybersecurity Training

Usually, cybersecurity education is far from fun. However, there’s no reason it has to be monotonous and dull. Professionals who leverage gamification during training can increase voluntary participation, engagement, and collaboration. They'll strengthen their session's lasting impacts as long as they use the right techniques.

Here’s more on the benefits of gamification in cybersecurity training and how companies can implement it to get the most out of their training sessions.

What Is Gamification in Cybersecurity?

Gamification is the act of adding game mechanics to an activity. For example, someone could gamify their company’s project completion rates by adding levels and a scoring system. People often use it to improve group engagement, motivation, and interest.

Standard gamification features can include collaborative or interactive activities. Achievement systems like points, progress bars, certificates, and leaderboards are also common. Sometimes, employers even offer physical rewards.

Gamification has become tremendously popular. Experts believe 70% of Fortune 500 companies will use it to some extent by 2024. Naturally, becoming widespread in cybersecurity was only a matter of time.

In cybersecurity, gamification consists of attaching game elements to activities and learning material. It usually involves completing security-related challenges, quizzes, or simulations to improve critical decision-making skills. It aims to help workers build hands-on skills to better defend against digital threats.

Why Bring Gamification to Cybersecurity Training?

People should bring gamification to their next cybersecurity training session because it can help workers pay attention and make the learning material more memorable. Moreover, it can improve collaboration and strengthen interpersonal communication skills.

Workers are much more likely to commit cybersecurity training to memory when they use gamification techniques to learn. While people only remember 10% of the material they read, they retain 90% of what they do themselves. Using game mechanics to simulate real-world scenarios will dramatically increase a training session’s success rate.

Tips for Implementing Gamification Techniques

Implementing gamification in cybersecurity training requires careful planning.

1. Identify the Target Audience

The use cases for gamification in cybersecurity include preparing new employees, upskilling, eliminating bad habits, and educating in response to security incidents. Since so many applications exist, people should carefully consider their target audience before gamifying their next training session.

While well-established IT teams can solve expert-level quizzes or react to cyberattack simulations easily, standard employees completing quarterly training need something more beginner-friendly. Organizers should align their target audience with the game’s mechanics.

2. Develop Reward Systems

Rewards are an essential part of gamification. However, they’re only useful if they’re meaningful. The possibility of being rewarded will only motivate participants if they want it. Whether the training session organizers offer virtual achievements, a public leaderboard or extra paid time off, it must be generally appealing.

The rewards should be tangible because people value ownership highly. If their points, progress or badges update after training, they’ll feel excited for every new session. A virtual or physical representation of their efforts can be a fantastic motivator.

3. Develop Penalty Systems

Penalties are another important consideration when implementing gamification. While those conducting the training session don’t want to over-penalize participants, adding risk could boost engagement. Research shows people prioritize minimizing losses over maximizing gains. They'll feel more motivated if they fear restarting their progress bar or losing points.

Simple, low-risk techniques are the best motivators. For example, allowing them to lose a few points for each wrong answer incentivizes them to be more competitive. This way, even those who know they won’t get a reward or land in the first place will still want to put in the effort.

4. Make Gamification Relevant

Gamification is only useful if it’s relevant. Session organizers can choose to simulate threats, host hackathons, provide trivia, or offer board-game-inspired education. Whatever they choose must align with their participants’ knowledge level and the training’s purpose.

For example, a cybersecurity capture-the-flag game can teach participants how to protect their “flag” from being stolen. They’ll learn to stop hackers from accessing their systems and stealing sensitive company information. While this approach would benefit beginners, it might not be as helpful for experts.

5. Establish a Time Frame

People who want to gamify their next cybersecurity training session should implement time limitations. Whether they use turn-based, timer, or race mechanics, they need a method to keep everyone moving forward and the tasks on track.

Time limitations are particularly useful when there’s no “winner” or a tie occurs. Instead of perpetually continuing — and running over the allotted time — the organizer can end things.

A preset time frame also incentivizes focus. Considering the average attention span has shrunk from 150 seconds in 2004 to only 40 seconds in 2023, continuously engaging participants is critical. A session where something is constantly happening is much more interesting than one with repeated lulls.

6. Create Matching Visuals

No matter how someone implements gamification in their cybersecurity training session, they must include visuals, such as images, graphics, drawings or diagrams. For example, instead of simply saying participants’ points out loud, they should update the scoreboard on a whiteboard or shared app.

Most people prefer to see what they’re learning about during training sessions. In fact, around 65% of adults are visual learners. Additionally, people often react mentally to seeing their scores, progress, or place compared to their colleagues. They’ll be more inclined to participate, collaborate, or compete if some type of media is present.

7. Make Gamification Ongoing

Although many view gamification as an occasional deviation from standard practices, it’s most effective when used repeatedly. After all, most people return to board and video games because there are still missions to complete and rewards to achieve. Ongoing gamified cybersecurity training will increase motivation and engagement.

Workers retain information better when they go over it repeatedly. Research shows they forget 50% of their learning material only a few days after their initial training session. Since gamification substantially increases retention, making it routine will have a lasting positive impact.

Gamification in Cybersecurity Training Is Impactful

People who are more interested during training sessions are far more likely to recall what they learned in critical scenarios. Fun, engaging activities improve workers’ moods and reduce internal cybersecurity risks. Overall, it’s a win-win for everyone involved.