C.S. Technopoly: A Megagame for Teaching and Learning Cybersecurity

Abstract

In this paper we present our ongoing research where we are attempting to integrate sustainable development issues into a megagame designed to teach cybersecurity. There are several serious games that have been developed to teach and inform individuals about sustainability issues but none that deal specifically with both cybersecurity and sustainability issues. A Megagame is a multiplayer game with between 30-40 players who play in teams of 3-5 players that take on specific roles in dealing with complex problems that cover subject matters ranging from science fiction and heroic fantasy to political, economic, historical, and even cyber conflicts. We have built and tested a megagame entitled CS -Technopoly using the socio-technical framework of sustainability proposed by Geels and integrated it further with the Security by Consensus Model proposed by Kowalski. The intended learning objectives of the game, such as teaching adversarial and sustainable systems thinking by exposing the students to cyber threat intelligence reports and cyber security investments decision making, were tested by performing semi-structured interviews of a stratified sample of the participants. Preliminary results from 11 interviews from the two first trials of CS Technopoly indicate that the participating security experts found that C.S. Technopoly would be a useful tool for team building and improving collaboration between security departments and upper strategic management

Keywords: Serious games, Cybersecurity Education, Sustainable Systems, Megagames

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003724