CyberSecurity Challenges for Software Developer Awareness Training in Industrial Environments

TL;DR

This paper presents a serious game called CyberSecurity Challenges aimed at increasing cybersecurity awareness among software developers in industrial environments, with insights on its design and benefits.

Contribution

It introduces the CyberSecurity Challenges game tailored for industrial settings and provides analysis and practical guidance for implementation.

Findings

Developed a serious game for industrial cybersecurity awareness

Analyzed perceived benefits of the game in real industrial settings

Provided practical advice for designing similar awareness tools

Abstract

Awareness of cybersecurity topics facilitates software developers to produce secure code. This awareness is especially important in industrial environments for the products and services in critical infrastructures. In this work, we address how to raise awareness of software developers on the topic of secure coding. We propose the "CyberSecurity Challenges", a serious game designed to be used in an industrial environment and address software developers' needs. Our work distils the experience gained in conducting these CyberSecurity Challenges in an industrial setting. The main contributions are the design of the CyberSecurity Challenges events, the analysis of the perceived benefits, and practical advice for practitioners who wish to design or refine these games.