{"id":32198,"date":"2020-01-24T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&p=32198"},"modified":"2022-09-14T06:20:44","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T10:20:44","slug":"immersive-labs-interview","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/immersive-labs-interview\/32198\/","title":{"rendered":"Game-changing ways to improve employee cyber-awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Games, badges, colorful illustrations. Probably not the words you\u2019d associate with cyber-skills training. But, for Immersive Labs<\/a>, this is the future. I talked to Chris Pace, Technology Advocate, about why traditional cybersecurity lectures don\u2019t work<\/a>, the importance of engaging employees about cyber-skills, and a game-changing new development \u2013 Bandersnatch<\/a> for data breaches.<\/p>\n

Ryan Loftus: Who started Immersive Labs, and how did they come to found it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chris Pace: Our founder, James Hadley, was working as a cyber-skills instructor at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).<\/a> After running PowerPoint-heavy cybersecurity courses in dark rooms, he could see first hand how ineffective this way of training is. The more PowerPoint he did, the less engaged people were. This was where the idea for the company was born, from his frustration that traditional classroom cyber-skills training methods don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

No more death by PowerPoint! What\u2019s the big vision?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At first, we felt we could deliver a platform that could be used by learning and development professionals to deliver engaging cyber-skills training. But the way we\u2019ve evolved the platform has moved things on. Now, our vision has expanded from providing employees with training to allowing companies and businesses to track and measure their cyber-capabilities. What skills do they have? What skills do they need? For many companies, that\u2019s a huge thing, especially for large financial enterprises.<\/p>\n

Helping employees and their businesses \u2013 nice. How does the platform work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Immersive Labs offer bite-sized cybersecurity challenges \u2013 otherwise known as \u201clabs\u201d \u2013 that people can complete using a cloud-based platform, anytime and wherever they want. Essentially, these labs are a collection of individual games that place the user within real-life cybersecurity scenarios. The labs ask you for one answer to a question, but you have to do three out of four tasks to get that answer.<\/p>\n

There are badges, points, illustrations \u2013 it\u2019s designed to engage, as opposed to teach. And they cover a wide range of topics; we have over 600 labs and counting. One of my favorites is the penetration testing lab \u2013 you basically hack a power station. You understand the industrial control system, find weaknesses in the software then work out how to exploit it. We\u2019ve set up a webcam showing a simulation film for when the user finishes. When you hack the power station, the webcam turns on and you see the power station shutting down. It\u2019s a bit of fun, but it\u2019s a cool outcome that immerses people in the environment.<\/p>\n

That example is quite specific to cyber professionals, but we offer hundreds of different labs for varying levels of expertise. They range from how to spot a phishing email to how to code securely; there\u2019s something for every level of cyber-knowledge. When we start working with a new client, we help them tailor objectives that shape what labs we advise. For example, one goal might be \u2018develop employees into roles where they are cybersecurity proficient,\u2019 then we recommend a series of labs for them to complete.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an entirely different way of looking at the cyber-awareness issue. What are the benefits of training employees in this way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traditional classroom environments aren\u2019t for everyone. And when it comes to cyber-skills training, or more importantly, your business security, you need to engage people to understand how to stay cyber secure. By gamifying and framing training differently, you can teach lessons that stick.<\/p>\n

Our technology plays into a current trend: mobile gaming. It\u2019s the on-demand element, users can access our platform from their computer, tablet or mobile device wherever they are, whenever they want. That\u2019s a huge benefit. Our data shows that over 50 percent of people taking the courses are doing it outside of work and on weekends as they want to be top of the company leader board on a Monday morning.<\/p>\n

But the benefits go beyond engaging employees. From the business\u2019s perspective, knowing the types of skills you have, or more importantly, don\u2019t have, is invaluable. Using our technology can help identify where to plug those skills gaps. It also encourages businesses to grow that talent internally from the resources they already have.<\/p>\n

Right now, it\u2019s clear we need to get to a place where we\u2019re not sourcing cyber-professionals, we\u2019re developing them. Platforms like ours can help businesses do that. Sourcing people is expensive; growing talent saves time and money in the long run.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a considerable need for home-grown cyber professionals, for sure. How do Immersive Labs differ from similar technologies on the market?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"immersive
\nI think what sets us apart is our depth \u2013 we have over 600 labs and counting. We pride ourselves on adding new content directly related to the threat landscape. When something new comes along \u2013 whether that\u2019s a new malware<\/a> or cybercrime group \u2013 we deliver a lab to educate businesses on the threat. So when a new threat hits the news that\u2019s relevant to our customers and the broader security community, we immediately create something to help them understand it. Roughly, we add four labs a week. Then if something is in the news, we add a lab on the same day.<\/p>\n

Wow, that\u2019s quick! What challenges have you faced so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of our biggest challenges was finding a way to show clients the value our product can add. Persuading people can be tricky, especially if they\u2019re used to classroom lectures and online courses.<\/p>\n

Other than that, classic growing pains. Notably going from a small team in a shipping container to a 100-person office. The change in culture can be a challenge, but we\u2019ve done a great job of adapting.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, what\u2019s been your biggest success?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being made the de-facto cyber-skills provider for the NHS (UK\u2019s National Health Service) \u2013 that was a major success for us. As a relatively new company, any new customer is a success. It shows that people see the value of our product. Now, as we\u2019ve grown, we don\u2019t need to try and show businesses the value Immersive Labs can add, they understand straight away.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a nice position to be in. What does the future hold? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Right now, we\u2019re working on a cyber-crisis simulator. It does what it says on the tin: puts people into a real-time cyber crisis. It\u2019s carnage! There\u2019s literally a breach happening right now, what are you going to do? What decisions are you going to make? And ultimately, how will those decisions impact your reputation or share price.<\/p>\n

You can do it in teams, or individually, and you get immediate feedback. There are tons of visualizations, data and metrics showing performance, which good decisions you made and why, and where there is room for improvement. Has your CEO been seen sweating on live TV? Have you had a media alert to say your share price has fallen through the floor? There are so many ways it can go, that\u2019s what makes it interesting. It\u2019s like Bandersnatch for breaches (an episode from the recent Netflix series Black Mirror using interactive choose-your-own-adventure paths) \u00a0\u2013 and our customers\u2019 need for it has driven this product. They\u2019ve told us they want it.<\/p>\n

Thanks Chris \u2013 best of luck in the future!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Immersive Labs is an interactive training platform changing the way businesses approach cyber-awareness. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2520,"featured_media":32200,"template":"","coauthors":[3424],"class_list":{"0":"post-32198","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-bring-on-future","7":"emagazine-category-cybersecurity-training-cybersecurity","8":"emagazine-category-safer-business","9":"emagazine-tag-cyber-aware-culture","10":"emagazine-tag-security-awareness-training"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/immersive-labs-interview\/32198\/"},{"hreflang":"en-gb","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.co.uk\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/immersive-labs-interview\/20101\/"},{"hreflang":"pt-br","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com.br\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/immersive-labs-interview\/17057\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/32198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}