NOVA Cybersecurity Lab

Whenever we go online—to shop, chat with our friends, or do anything else—we put ourselves at risk of cybercrime. Computer viruses can corrupt our files, hackers can steal our data, and criminals can trick us into revealing sensitive information. But luckily there are simple steps we can take to protect our digital lives.

NOVA has teamed up with cybersecurity experts to create the Cybersecurity Lab, a game in which players will discover how they can keep their digital lives safe and develop an understanding of cyber threats and defenses. Players will advance by using computer coding, logical reasoning, critical thinking, and vulnerability detection to solve various problems. These are the same skills employed regularly by cybersecurity professionals. However, players won’t need any prior cybersecurity or coding expertise to succeed.

There are four major gameplay components of the Lab:

• Coding Challenge: An introduction to very basic coding skills. Players program a robot to navigate a maze, using drag-and-drop commands.
• Password-Cracking Challenge: A series of “password duels” teach players the basics of how attackers might try to crack their passwords and how they can make better, more secure passwords.
• Social Engineering Challenge: Players are presented with two apparently similar emails or websites. They must first identify the differences between them and then decide which one is a scam attempting to steal their information or money. This challenge also includes a number of audio recordings and transcripts of phone calls; players have to decide if they should trust the caller or not.
• Network Attacks: As their companies grow, players must buy defenses to defend themselves against a series of cyber attacks. The better that players do in the three challenges, the more resources they’ll have to buy defenses.