Cybersecurity Skills Research Articles

Education in Cybersecurity – A Case Study

The inclusion of soft skills linked to Cybersecurity and cyber defense in the academic curricula of higher education courses is a very current issue. Several studies have been carried out in this regard, given the increasing importance of creating awareness about good practices in accessing computer networks, particularly the Internet. These studies primarily consist of recommendations on building the curricula of such courses, guiding the correct ways to do this. Our approach here is from the perspective of the students who may be the target of these cybersecurity skills. In this sense, we are developing a study in a Portuguese higher education institution to understand what higher education students think about this issue and their perception of the need for training in the area. We will ask students from various areas of education about this topic. We will then present an extended study when the preliminary results of a pilot test study are completed and shown. We questioned 423 students from the Informatics Engineering Degree course and analyzed the data obtained in the survey. Since then, this analysis of the data obtained in this study allows us to conclude that the students who participated in this study are very aware of issues related to cyber security and the need to be taught at least the fundamental concepts of cyber hygiene and cyber protection to all to all higher education students. In addition to this first conclusion, most of these students are concerned about the causes and consequences of cyber-attacks and the lack of knowledge that most people have about this problem.

Reducing the risk of social engineering attacks using SOAR measures in a real world environment: A case study

The global cost of successful cyberattacks is increasing annually, with there being a shift towards social engineering threats in recent years. Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting humans rather than technical systems, recognizing data as a critical resource, especially in the finance industry where breaches can lead to substantial losses and reputational damage. The present case study proposes measures to reduce human susceptibility to social engineering attacks, leveraging SOAR (Security Automation, Orchestration, and Response) technology for incident response automation. The study covers various issues in cybersecurity, SOAR, and social engineering, through analyzing interviews with expert practitioners in the field, addressing cybersecurity skills shortages and current cyber threats. Four social engineering vignettes were developed, representing real threats, along with specific SOAR measures implemented using Microsoft Sentinel. These measures were simulated to demonstrate their effectiveness by reducing the employee's vulnerability to social engineering attacks. The risk of social engineering attacks was successfully reduced by implementing a responsive approach through the developed SOAR measures. Some of the measures reduced the risk by locking user accounts or forcing password changes after a detected cyber incident while another measure was developed for awareness enhancements. Given the current shortage of cybersecurity professionals, technologies like SOAR are becoming increasingly relevant for security teams. However, SOAR alone cannot address all challenges posed by social engineering and should be viewed as a complementary measure rather than a standalone solution.

Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap: Knowledge Framework Comparative Study

Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap: Knowledge Framework Comparative Study

Advancing Cybersecurity through Civic Skills

The rise of sophisticated cybercrime, often perpetrated through linking the devices of unwitting individuals to criminal botnets, has drawn attention to the critical role the cybersecurity skills of individuals play in achieving effective cybersecurity. This paper identifies the key cybersecurity civic skills, explores how these skills have been taught in Europe, and identifies more effective approaches to training. The results highlight the importance of personalised and continuously updated training materials, and the potential of innovative training methods, such as gamification and learning portals.

Exploring Trainees’ Behaviour in Hands-on Cybersecurity Exercises Through Data Mining

Despite the rising number of cybersecurity professionals, the demand for more experts in this field is still substantial. Cybersecurity professionals must also possess up-to-date knowledge and skills to counter cybersecurity threats’ dynamicity and rapidly evolving nature. Hands-on cybersecurity training is mandatory to practice various tools and improve one’s technical cybersecurity skills. Generally, an interactive learning environment is set, where trainees perform sophisticated tasks by accessing complete operating systems, applications, and networks. One of the main challenges that cybersecurity organizations are facing today is the generation of massive data through practice exercises. So, it becomes a problem to convert this data into knowledge to improve the overall quality of the learning system. The large amount of interaction data and its complexity also limit us to do automated analysis. Thus, these challenges for cybersecurity learners can be addressed through appropriate educational data analysis by having insights or testing hypotheses or models on a proper dataset. Revealing the patterns, rules, item sets and time taken by trainees while using any command line tool could help the trainer to assess the trainees and to provide feedback. Therefore, in this paper we are analyzing the frequency patterns and timing information captured from the trainees’ command line log to reveal their solving techniques, easy and struggling stages, slipups, and individual performance. Through our study, we aim to show how education and training providers can foresee learners who are less likely to succeed in a task or exhibit low performance, which can impede learning proficiency. With this knowledge, organizations and trainers can identify trainees who require additional attention or support. It may also be able to identify elements related to an organization like training aids, training methodology, etc. that need improvement. This study demonstrates the utility of data-mining techniques, specifically rule mining and sequential mining, to empower training designers to delve into datasets derived from cyber security training exercises.

The recruitment wall in cyber security

Organisations have been complaining for years about the cyber security skills gap, and the problem seems to be getting worse. However, many of the issues stem not from a lack of willing people but arbitrary barriers being placed in the way of those who would like to enter the field. We need more entry-level routes into cyber security, greater diversity and better support for training programmes.

Cybersecurity Skills, Knowledge and Abilities for Criminal Justice Professionals: An Exploratory Study of Practitioners' Perspectives

Cybersecurity Skills, Knowledge and Abilities for Criminal Justice Professionals: An Exploratory Study of Practitioners' Perspectives

Towards Designing a Privacy-Oriented Architecture for Managing Personal Identifiable Information

Recent threat reports have warned researchers and security professionals about a shortage of cybersecurity skills to face devastating personal data breaches. As a response, governments have taken on the challenge of proposing specific legislation to protect citizens' privacy while holding information-processing companies accountable for any misuse. However, unauthorized access to such information, or possible negligent destruction of personal records are some issues that cannot be dealt with privacy laws alone. In this research, we introduce the functional requirements to deploy PriVARq, a novel privacy-oriented architecture to proactively manage any consensual submission of personal identifiable information (PII); i.e. during its collection, processing, verification and transference. PriVARq’s main contribution is the balance between legal frameworks and industry-leading security standards to mitigate the former’s shortage of practical solutions to tackle some privacy and security issues when dealing with PII. Consequently, for defining PriVARq’s functional requirements, a privacy-by-design approach is employed which not only considers legislation proposed in Europe and Latin America but also analyzes technical aspects outlined in international security standards. We aim to provide a proactive approach to reduce the shortage of skills and solutions to tackle privacy leakages in public repositories and devise future research venues to implement PriVARq in public and private organizations.

The EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy : A silver bullet to address the cyber security skills gap in the European Union?

The economic, social and security imperative of addressing the cyber security skills gap, further exacerbated by recent crises and the evolving nature of cyber threats, is now widely acknowledged as a key priority to ensure the resilience of our digital economies and societies. This paper explores the potential of the proposed EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy, introduced by the European Commission (EC) as a flagship of the European Year of Skills in April 2023, to address this challenge in the European Union (EU). With an increasing shortage of cyber security professionals, the paper highlights the expected upsurge in demand for cyber security experts in the face of new EU cyber security legislation. The diversity of the expertise required, especially in non-technical fields, poses a unique challenge. At the same time, existing initiatives at both national and EU levels lack coordination and synergy, hindering their impact on the EU job market. This paper outlines how the EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy can offer a comprehensive solution to this challenge by providing a one-stop shop for cyber security training and funding offers across Europe and addressing the mismatch between available skills and market needs. The Academy’s pillars, which cover knowledge generation and training, stakeholder involvement, funding and progress measurement, are further detailed. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for the EU cyber security ecosystem in order to help make this initiative a success and a potential model for replication in other parts of the world.

Optimizing E-Government Cybersecurity through Artificial Intelligence Integration

This study explores the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into e-governance cybersecurity, focusing on its key insights, contributions, challenges, and future directions. AI-powered cybersecurity systems offer advanced capabilities in threat detection, response, and scalability, improving the protection of critical infrastructure and sensitive data in government digital services. However, ethical considerations such as transparency, fairness, and accountability, as well as challenges related to algorithm biases, data privacy, and cybersecurity skills gap, must be addressed to ensure responsible and effective use of AI technologies. Recommendations for policymakers, government agencies, and researchers are provided to maximize the benefits of AI while mitigating potential risks and enhancing e-governance cybersecurity resilience in the digital age.

Using data clustering to reveal trainees’ behavior in cybersecurity education

AbstractIn cyber security education, hands-on training is a common type of exercise to help raise awareness and competence, and improve students’ cybersecurity skills. To be able to measure the impact of the design of the particular courses, the designers need methods that can reveal hidden patterns in trainee behavior. However, the support of the designers in performing such analytic and evaluation tasks is ad-hoc and insufficient. With unsupervised machine learning methods, we designed a tool for clustering the trainee actions that can exhibit their strategies or help pinpoint flaws in the training design. By using a k-means++ algorithm, we explore clusters of trainees that unveil their specific behavior within the training sessions. The final visualization tool consists of views with scatter plots and radar charts. The former provides a two-dimensional correlation of selected trainee actions and displays their clusters. In contrast, the radar chart displays distinct clusters of trainees based on their more specific strategies or approaches when solving tasks. Through iterative training redesign, the tool can help designers identify improper training parameters and improve the quality of the courses accordingly. To evaluate the tool, we performed a qualitative evaluation of its outcomes with cybersecurity experts. The results confirm the usability of the selected methods in discovering significant trainee behavior. Our insights and recommendations can be beneficial for the design of tools for educators, even beyond cyber security.

Mitigating risks of online engagement; considering the contexts and mechanisms of cybercrime among older adults

AbstractBackgroundThis talk will explore how benefits of remote interventions can be realised for older people with cognitive impairments alongside risk mitigation, drawing on a realist review of how and in what circumstances older people become victims of cybercrime. We aimed to identify factors leading to older adults' victimisation, and review theory and evidence for interventions to reduce victimisation risks.MethodWe conducted a realist review synthesising published literature and gathering stakeholder experiences via an online workshop to understand how, why and in what circumstances older adults are at risk of financial cybercrime victimisation. We used the evidence to develop a programme theory and Context, Mechanism, Outcome Configurations (CMOCs) to explain the mechanisms by which older adults become victims of financial cybercrime in different contexts, and to inform the development of interventions to produce desired outcomes of reducing and preventing cybercrime.ResultWe analysed 52 primary and secondary data sources and consulted with 21 stakeholders from across health, social, legal, and financial sectors. Our programme theory comprised 16 CMOCs describing how social isolation, cognitive decline, physical and mental health problems; wealth status, limited cyber security skills or awareness, societal attitudes and content of scams led to increased risk of victimisation. Only evidence for interventions to enhance cyber security awareness and skills of potential older victims was identified. Targeting offender motivation, redesign of security software to increase usability by older people and training programmes for professionals and family members are rational, yet untested interventions. A shift in societal attitudes, conveying positive messages, of older people’s rights to be safely active online, is needed too.ConclusionProtection from cybercrime is instrumental to supporting ageing in a digital world. Incorporating cyber security awareness into future interventions that promote social connectedness, cognition and healthy lifestyles, alongside legal structural protections, and measures to improve societal attitudes towards financial cybercrime victimisation will help older adults navigate online spaces safely. Training programmes targeting older adults, or their supporters should be deliverable by a range of professionals for greatest reach; and be co‐designed with end users to ensure that if they are useful, they are acceptable and used.

Software and Systems Engineers in ICS Security

The introduction of Industry 4.0 and IIoT has enabled the interconnection of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) and exposed industrial control systems to cyber threats. Industrial cybersecurity requires knowledge, skill, and collaboration between IT and OT. A comparison of graduate curricula of software engineering and systems engineering identifies competencies related to industrial control systems cybersecurity. Industry experts are interviewed to identify needs for cybersecurity skills and competencies. Results from the mapping are discussed in the context of software and systems engineering challenges in ICS cybersecurity and leveraged against industry experiences and needs expressed through interviews with three OT and IT industry professionals. The curricula mapping reveals variations in both how they are organised and expressed to the extent that subjective interpretation is required for evaluation and comparison. The interviews with the industry experts indicate a gap between graduate competence from the curricula and industry needs.

Block-AD: Blockchain Attack-Defense CTF Competition for Next-Web3 Security

The rapid growth of blockchain technology hasintroduced newsecurity challengesin decentralized systems.In this paper, we present Block-AD, a Blockchain Attack-Defense Capture The Flag (CTF) competition aimed at improving smart contract security skills and addressing evolving security threats in Next-Web3 environments. Unlike traditional CTF competitions, participants engage in attack and defense actions to exploit vulnerabilities and protect their smart contract services. This game-based approach concludes with rewards distributed from the competition’s vault and the allocation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as proof of participation. This approach aims to provide a fun and engaging way to improve the security skills of all participants, as well as to identify and fix vulnerabilities in smart contracts. By combining blockchain technology, CTF methodology, and Next-Web3 security, Block-AD provides a unique and innovative approach for enhancing cybersecurity skills in decentralized systems and smart contracts.

Enhancing Competency of Cybersecurity Through Implementation of the “CAPTURE THE FLAG” On College in Indonesia

Academic institutions encounter several challenges when it comes to determining the most effective pedagogical approaches for enhancing their students' proficiency in the domain of cybersecurity. Conversely, cybersecurity gamification, exemplified by Capture the Flag (CTF) events in the industry, is widely considered an appropriate avenue for fostering cybersecurity learning. This research endeavors to assess the effectiveness of employing gamification as an instructional tool to enhance cybersecurity competency within the college context. The study employs a quantitative research method, adopting an experimental approach with a pre-experimental design. The research findings reveal the following key points 1) the implementation of gamification resulted in a significant enhancement of students' competency in cryptography, web vulnerability, and overall cybersecurity, 2) the gamification experiment demonstrated a stronger influence on enhancing practical skills as opposed to theoretical knowledge, 3) the evaluation of gamification's effectiveness in augmenting cybersecurity competency yielded a medium level (medium-g) of efficacy, reaching 65.91%. Although the medium level of effectiveness was observed in the context of gamification, it should be acknowledged that gamification holds substantial potential for advancing cybersecurity competency. For the attainment of optimal improvement in cybersecurity skills, a consistent and regular integration of gamification is recommended, while concurrently addressing the three pillars of cybersecurity. Furthermore, the utilization of gamification also presents opportunities for cultivating cybersecurity incident handling capabilities and the simulation of cyberwarfare scenarios

Leveraging VR/AR/MR/XR Technologies to Improve Cybersecurity Education, Training, and Operations

The United States faces persistent threats conducting malicious cyber campaigns that threaten critical infrastructure, companies and their intellectual property, and the privacy of its citizens. Additionally, there are millions of unfilled cybersecurity positions, and the cybersecurity skills gap continues to widen. Most companies believe that this problem has not improved and nearly 44% believe it has gotten worse over the past 10 years. Threat actors are continuing to evolve their tactics, techniques, and procedures for conducting attacks on public and private targets. Education institutions and companies must adopt emerging technologies to develop security professionals and to increase cybersecurity awareness holistically. Leveraging Virtual/ Augmented/Mixed/Extended Reality technologies for education, training, and awareness can augment traditional learning methodologies and improve the nation’s cybersecurity posture. This paper reviews previous research to identify how distance and remote education are conducted generally, and how Virtual/Augmented/Extended/Mixed reality technologies are used to conduct cybersecurity awareness training, cybersecurity training, and conduct operations. Finally, barriers to adopting these technologies will be discussed. Understanding how these technologies can be developed and implemented provides one potential way of overcoming the cybersecurity workforce gap and increasing the competencies and capabilities of cybersecurity professionals.

Devising a cyber security management module through integrated course design

ABSTRACT Cyber security is a growing area of international importance, with shortages present for cyber security skills. While many universities have introduced degree programmes for cyber security, the major focus of these programmes is on the development of technical skills with some reports indicating how graduates of these courses lack in softer skills and business acumen. However, cyber security management is a topic area where students can develop such skills. This paper presents the pedagogical and assessment approaches used for cyber security management education, and presents a case study of developing a ‘Cyber Security Management’ module of study through utilising Finks’ Integrated Course Design. This paper presents the findings that active learning approaches are effective methods for teaching this subject area, which include the use of decision-making scenario tasks, group projects, and tasking students with conducting a management report for a real company, where they should conduct interviews with the organisation.

Digital innovation through cybersecurity learning factories

Globally, the cybersecurity workforce changes tremendous challenges. Shortages in specialised cybersecurity staff members essentially puts organisations at risk. New graduates can face difficulties in entering the cybersecurity domain due to a lack of experience and knowledge. However, with the advent of newer techniques for knowledge development, we find that learning factories offer a fresh perspective. Learning factories provide a mechanism to remove the barriers in the field of cybersecurity and cultivate a nurturing training environment. This paper looks at the modernisation of traditional training by covering the application of learning factories in the cybersecurity field. It aims to show how knowledge can be geared into more practical schemes to empower participants and expose them to critical cybersecurity skills. Through the paper, it will be demonstrated that learning factories can be used for real-world learning and information sharing. Learning factories embody the principles of knowledge sharing and promotes more efficient knowledge management. With the use of nominated tools and technologies cyber security learning factories can help measure the effectiveness of worker training as well provide for consistent facilitated training. Overall, learning factories can help to transform training and build knowledge application.
 Learning factories may be set up to tackle real industry challenges and are particularly useful in the field of cybersecurity. Using learning factories there is an opportunity to advance multi-dimensional cybersecurity skills and develop innovation in the field. Due to the added advantages of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) being virtually accessible, there is the added benefits of agility, responsiveness and increased engagement. Using a variety of modes, cybersecurity learning factories can combine the techniques of gamification, videos, multi-media and simulation. All of this provided an augmented and enriched experience for participants. Learning factories are a low-cost solution to replicating working environments thus assisting in skills development. Through the application of learning factories, a skilled workforce can be developed and cultivated.

The Impact of Digital Education on Acquiring Cybersecurity Skills among the Students of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Balqa Applied University

The study aimed to identify the impact of digital education (digital citizenship, digital skills, digital culture) on acquiring cybersecurity skills (the concept of cybersecurity, cybercrime, cybersecurity challenges). It also aimed to identify both the level of digital education and the level of acquiring cybersecurity skills among students of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Balqa Applied University. The researcher used the descriptive analytical approach through the study tool, i.e. the questionnaire. The study sample consisted of (150) students withdrawn from the study population through random sampling. The results showed that the level of digital education among the students of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Balqa Applied University was moderate. The level of acquiring cybersecurity skills among students of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Balqa Applied University was also moderate. Moreover, the results indicated a statistically significant effect of digital education in all its dimensions (Digital citizenship, digital skills, digital culture) on acquiring cybersecurity skills in its combined dimensions (the concept of cybersecurity, cybercrime, cybersecurity challenges) at a significant level (α ≤ 0.05) among students of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Balqa Applied University. The study recommended a number of recommendations, including enhancing the acquisition of cybersecurity skills among students of the Faculty of Medicine at Al-Balqa Applied University through a contract to raise and increase the understanding of the concept of cybersecurity and increasing the courses offered to them in the field of digital laws and various digital skills.

A Systematic Literature Review on Cyber Security Education for Children

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Contribution:</i> This article presents a systematic literature review of research concerning cyber security education for children (under 18s) on a global scale. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Background:</i> While the Internet brings great convenience to children, it can potentially cause harms due to lack of knowledge about online risks. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Research Questions</i>: 1. What cyber security skills are taught to children worldwide? 2. What are key strategies/methods for cyber security education? 3. What stakeholders are regarded as responsible for cyber security education of children? <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Methodology</i>: Using the PRISMA protocol for literature search, 412 papers published between January 2015 and June 2021 were retrieved and 44 were identified for thematic analysis. <p xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <i>Findings</i>: The content considered for cyber security education varies greatly between nations, being therefore inconsistent and filled with gaps. This article suggests curriculum content framed around six broad categories of cyber security awareness for educators and policy makers to follow, and further recommends that curriculum should be influenced not only by expert advice, but also through a “bottom-up” approach listening to children’s voice to adequately gauge the level of Internet engagement and their activities. This article finds that innovative teaching methods (e.g., gamification) are claimed to provide “hands on” and “real life” experiences that greatly enhance traditional classroom teaching (e.g., mentoring), but existing literature lacks evaluation of comparative effectiveness. Finally, this article finds that the primary provider for cyber security education, from the sample analyzed, is regarded as schoolteachers, supported by parents and by a formal curriculum resourced adequately by governments.