A robust cybersecurity protection is important to most public- or private-sector actions in the US. In 2019, Government Order 13870 acknowledged that, “America’s cybersecurity workforce is a strategic asset that protects the American folks, the homeland, and the American lifestyle.” One consequence of this government order is an effort to foster cybersecurity training by way of competitions. These occasions enable members to sort out real-world cybersecurity issues in a timed, aggressive, secure atmosphere by way of hands-on challenges that assess and construct cybersecurity abilities. Opponents join particular person or staff tracks or each to strengthen their skills and be examined by offensive or defensive challenges. A cybersecurity competitors is a perfect atmosphere for these professionals to dive into and discover life like eventualities.
The Division of Homeland Safety’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA) was tasked with holding a cybersecurity competitors for the federal cyber workforce. It selected to associate with the SEI to develop and run the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitors, a nationwide cyber competitors that identifies, acknowledges, and rewards the most effective cybersecurity expertise within the federal government workforce.
In six years greater than 8,000 folks have taken half within the President’s Cup. In that very same time span practically 4,000 help-desk tickets regarding questions with challenges/the platform/registration, and so on., had been created to assist the President’s Cup. Whereas designing high-level challenges is a very powerful a part of a cybersecurity competitors, having a assist staff that may course of and resolve opponents’ considerations in a well timed vogue is a important a part of making a cybersecurity competitors profitable. On this publish we current classes realized from six years of internet hosting President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitions together with the need of competitors assist staffing.
Assist Workforce Function and Construction
Regardless that members are competing, they nonetheless often want the help of a assist staff. The objective of the assist staff is to assist opponents expertise a seamless occasion. The assist staff doesn’t provide hints to the people and groups after they get caught throughout a problem; it serves as an middleman between opponents and the competitors’s platform and problem engineers each time problem questions and/or platform points come up. Generally a technical problem with a problem or the competitors atmosphere wants restore, whereas different instances a competitor seeks readability a couple of specific a part of the problem. The assist staff retains the wheels shifting.
Assist Hours and Tiers
The primary choice when planning assist for a contest is deciding when to supply dwell assist. Some competitions provide dwell assist 24/7, whereas others provide dwell assist for particular instances throughout the rounds. Both method, it’s vital to obviously talk the hours when opponents can and can’t anticipate dwell help.
The President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitors is run by way of Gameboard, an open supply utility, the place customers entry the challenges and attain out to the assist staff by way of the Gameboard-hosted ticketing system. Earlier than tickets begin arriving, it’s a good suggestion to interrupt the assist staff into three tiers to finest triage and resolve points.
- Tier 1. In the course of the competitors, Tier 1 assist employees are accountable for fielding preliminary assist tickets, acknowledging motion is being taken and speaking with the opponents till the problem is resolved. The emphasis is to resolve assist requests as quickly as attainable since there are time constraints throughout the aggressive rounds. Some examples of Tier 1 points embody registration questions, profile updates, and normal questions on guidelines.
- Tier 2. Generally a problem should be escalated to builders for decision. Maybe a characteristic requires troubleshooting, or an engineer should decide if the problem is working appropriately. These engineers kind the Tier 2 a part of the assist staff. Another examples of Tier 2 points embody issues with grading, digital machines that fail to launch, or clarification questions on wording in problem documentation.
- Tier 3. Tier-3 issues, corresponding to infrastructure outages or bugs, will be probably the most critical to deal with due to their potential severity. For instance, if digital machines for all challenges are abruptly unable to begin, your entire competitors grinds to a halt till the issue is rectified. Due to this fact, infrastructure specialists should be out there or on name in case an pressing scenario emerges.
How do opponents attain assist, and the way is an issue funneled to the right tier for decision?
Assist Workflow and Responses
In the course of the President’s Cup, customers submit assist tickets by way of the Gameboard utility. The assist interface routinely captures the particular President’s Cup problem, the consumer’s PlayerID, and a assist code that helps the assist staff pinpoint the problem. When the Tier 1 staff receives the ticket, they triage the scenario both for decision or elevation to Tier 2. Both method, the Tier 1 group communicates with the opponents that they’ve acquired their request and can maintain them knowledgeable of progress towards decision. It’s vital to quickly talk with opponents and attempt to resolve most tickets inside quarter-hour because the opponents solely have a sure period of time to participate in every spherical.
Whereas inventory solutions to typical consumer questions can function a normal place to begin for support-team responses, it’s finest to strategy every assist ticket individually in order that customers know their particular query is getting addressed. The objective is to not reply questions in a rote vogue however to answer every competitor’s scenario in a passable method.
Weekend and after-hour responses current distinctive conditions. If opponents can take part throughout instances when dwell assist gained’t be staffed, the unavailability of assist should be communicated clearly (customers can entry the President’s Cup website 24/7 to learn the competitors’s guidelines and FAQ part, nevertheless).
Adjudication Points
Some points are uncommon sufficient (e.g., a competitor discovers an surprising solution to resolve a problem) or extreme sufficient (e.g., an infrastructure outage causes a contest delay) to require fast or post-round adjudication.
Often a consumer’s assist ticket reveals an unknown downside or infrastructure problem. If, after investigation, directors decide that an issue with the problem or different competitors infrastructure was the trigger, they could award further time within the participant’s session or factors for solutions that the participant discovered.
Additional time is awarded to a competitor when an issue with a problem or competitors infrastructure prevented the competitor from making progress on a problem. The additional time is usually awarded in accordance with how a lot time directors consider the competitor misplaced as a result of error.
Awarding factors as a part of an adjudication is uncommon. Factors ought to solely be awarded if directors decide that gamers submitted a solution that ought to be thought of appropriate however was graded as incorrect by the problem. This may occur in rare circumstances when a problem inadvertently has a number of appropriate solutions that weren’t accounted for throughout problem design, QA, and grading.
The President’s Cup Gameboard reporting options present useful knowledge to the assist staff. Assist reviews summarize details about the assist tickets dealt with throughout the competitors. They are often filtered for a particular spherical, a particular problem and/or different parameters corresponding to labels. Labels are tags added to particular person tickets that enable the assist staff to simply determine, classify and search all tickets. Tickets will be labeled by spherical, problem (e.g., VM-outage), or any parameter the assist staff decides to make use of. As soon as tickets are tagged with labels, it’s simple to run reviews. Stories enable the assist staff to focus on competitors downside areas or points that should be addressed earlier than an ensuing spherical. Stories also can function a place to begin for the planning of future competitions.
Six Classes Realized in Supporting Cybersecurity Competitions
- Perceive Your Limits. Contemplate your plan for assist when providing a cybersecurity competitors. If 24/7 assist shall be supplied, don’t promote that to potential opponents and assume you possibly can fill the assist schedule later. It’s tougher than you suppose to safe staffing for each time slot, particularly in a single day. Take into account that when you comply with a tiered-support technique, no less than two folks should be scheduled for each shift. Be sure to have sufficient staff members who possess the abilities and availability to deal with assist assignments.
- Analyze Knowledge. Use your assist website’s reporting options throughout and after a contest to take a look at knowledge. With the President’s Cup, CISA and the SEI use Gameboard’s intensive, built-in reporting options to glean key details about competitors challenges and logistics (corresponding to rising assist employees throughout sure hours or realizing assist isn’t wanted as a lot as initially thought throughout in a single day hours). Utilizing reporting knowledge may help decide a contest’s staffing wants.
- Guarantee a powerful challenge-review course of. A robust problem testing-and-review course of as highlighted within the Designing Nice Challenges for Cybersecurity Competitors weblog publish is integral to a profitable competitors. The objective right here is to determine and repair any problem points earlier than the competitors even begins. Consider this course of as providing assist earlier than assist is even crucial. Extra challenge-testing earlier than a contest ends in
- Fewer challenge-specific assist tickets throughout the competitors,
- happier members,
- and a extra passable buyer expertise for the competitors proprietor.
One other space the place a contest website’s reporting capabilities can present helpful data is problem improvement. Examine what challenges drew probably the most assist tickets. Are there frequent threads to a number of the issues highlighted within the tickets? For instance, if Safety Onion takes a very long time to begin when used within the problem atmosphere, it is likely to be helpful to future opponents to focus on that actuality within the problem documentation in order that they know the challenges that make the most of Safety Onion are working as anticipated.
- Keep an lively backup staffing plan. Have backup plans in case somebody in your assist staff is unable to deal with their shift. Whether or not it’s a proper backup schedule or an on-call record, have a plan useful for when life interferes together with your competitors.
- Have a straightforward communication technique that your assist staff can use. In in the present day’s work atmosphere it’s not going your assist staff will bodily be in the identical room throughout aggressive rounds (particularly after enterprise hours and on weekends). Collaborative instruments corresponding to Mattermost and Microsoft Groups are perfect for permitting real-time communication amongst your staff members. Video-communication platforms like Zoom are additionally helpful for emergency conditions that require impromptu conferences (corresponding to a sudden downside together with your competitors’s cloud supplier).
- Maintain a operating support-team classes realized record all through the competitors that can assist you evolve your assist course of for upcoming rounds and future competitions. Method any feedback or inner ideas about your assist methodology by way of the eyes of your opponents and prospects. Maintain the next questions in thoughts:
- How can we enhance our competitors to raised fulfill our buyer’s wants?
- How can we make our assist course of higher for opponents?
It’s additionally a good suggestion to maintain classes realized monitoring in thoughts not simply to your assist course of however for all facets of your cybersecurity competitors.
Assist Audiences – Who Advantages?
These assist practices are the results of the SEI’s expertise working with CISA’s President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitors. Assist technique works in tandem with problem improvement when planning a cybersecurity competitors, so support-team concerns will not be incidental to reaching the strategic objective of growing and strengthening America’s cybersecurity personnel. A assist staff that’s in a position to deal with points that come up throughout a contest whereas serving as concierge to opponents satisfies three audiences: competitors members, competitors stakeholders, and people who need the US to have a superior cybersecurity workforce.