Training the Industrial Cybersecurity Workforce with Games and Graphics

Despite the abundance of free online resources and increased research into innovative training techniques, the shortage of cybersecurity skills in the workforce continues. Recent reporting estimates that there may be up to 3.5 million unfilled jobs in the cybersecurity industry by the year 2021, and unfortunately, the skills gap in the specific area of cybersecurity for industrial control systems (ICS) like the power grid, manufacturing, and oil & gas, is even more dismal, with some describing the ICS cybersecurity skills gap as a “chasm�. Although this need is present wherever there is industrial automation, the need is most severe in military installations and the nation’s critical infrastructure, like the power grid, which both represent high value targets to nation-state level cyber attackers. To help solve this problem, Fortiphyd Logic proposes to develop an innovative platform for virtualizing entire ICS networks to improve scalability while also improving engagement and depth of learning outcomes by including simulated physical processes visualized in 3D video game graphics. The virtualized ICS networks will provide a safe environment for trainees to practice ICS-specific cybersecurity offensive and defensive exercises and vividly illustrate their successes or failures in the 3D video game simulation.