A powerful cybersecurity protection is significant to most public- or private-sector actions in the US. In 2019, Government Order 13870 said that, “America’s cybersecurity workforce is a strategic asset that protects the American folks, the homeland, and the American lifestyle.” One end result of this govt order is an effort to foster cybersecurity training by way of competitions. These occasions enable contributors 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 crew 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 lifelike 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 companion with the SEI to develop and run the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitors, a nationwide cyber competitors that identifies, acknowledges, and rewards the very best cybersecurity expertise within the federal govt workforce.
In six years greater than 8,000 folks have taken half within the President’s Cup. In that very same time span almost 4,000 help-desk tickets regarding questions with challenges/the platform/registration, and so on., have been created to help the President’s Cup. Whereas designing high-level challenges is crucial a part of a cybersecurity competitors, having a help crew that may course of and resolve opponents’ issues in a well timed trend is a vital a part of making a cybersecurity competitors profitable. On this submit we current classes realized from six years of internet hosting President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitions together with the need of competitors help staffing.
Assist Staff Goal and Construction
Though contributors are competing, they nonetheless often want the help of a help crew. The aim of the help crew is to assist opponents expertise a seamless occasion. The help crew doesn’t supply hints to the people and groups once they get caught throughout a problem; it serves as an middleman between opponents and the competitors’s platform and problem engineers at any time when problem questions and/or platform points come up. Generally a technical concern with a problem or the competitors atmosphere wants restore, whereas different instances a competitor seeks readability a couple of explicit a part of the problem. The help crew retains the wheels transferring.
Assist Hours and Tiers
The primary choice when planning help for a contest is deciding when to supply dwell help. Some competitions supply dwell help 24/7, whereas others supply dwell help for particular instances throughout the rounds. Both method, it’s necessary to obviously talk the hours when opponents can and can’t count on 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 help crew by way of the Gameboard-hosted ticketing system. Earlier than tickets begin arriving, it’s a good suggestion to interrupt the help crew into three tiers to finest triage and resolve points.
- Tier 1. Throughout the competitors, Tier 1 help employees are accountable for fielding preliminary help 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 basic questions on guidelines.
- Tier 2. Generally a difficulty have to be escalated to builders for decision. Maybe a function requires troubleshooting, or an engineer should decide if the problem is working appropriately. These engineers type the Tier 2 a part of the help crew. 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 severe to deal with due to their potential severity. For instance, if digital machines for all challenges are abruptly unable to start out, the whole competitors grinds to a halt till the issue is rectified. Due to this fact, infrastructure consultants have to be obtainable or on name in case an pressing scenario emerges.
How do opponents attain help, and the way is an issue funneled to the proper tier for decision?
Assist Workflow and Responses
Throughout the President’s Cup, customers submit help tickets by way of the Gameboard utility. The help interface mechanically captures the precise President’s Cup problem, the consumer’s PlayerID, and a help code that helps the help crew pinpoint the problem. When the Tier 1 crew 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 obtained their request and can hold them knowledgeable of progress towards decision. It’s necessary to quickly talk with opponents and attempt to resolve most tickets inside quarter-hour for the reason that opponents solely have a sure period of time to participate in every spherical.
Whereas inventory solutions to typical consumer questions can function a basic place to begin for support-team responses, it’s finest to method every help ticket individually in order that customers know their particular query is getting addressed. The aim is to not reply questions in a rote trend however to reply to 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 help received’t be staffed, the unavailability of help have to be communicated clearly (customers can entry the President’s Cup web site 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 strategy to clear up a problem) or extreme sufficient (e.g., an infrastructure outage causes a contest delay) to require rapid or post-round adjudication.
Often a consumer’s help ticket reveals an unknown downside or infrastructure concern. If, after investigation, directors decide that an issue with the problem or different competitors infrastructure was the trigger, they could award additional time within the participant’s session or factors for solutions that the participant discovered.
Further 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 mostly awarded based on how a lot time directors imagine 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 right however was graded as incorrect by the problem. This could occur in rare circumstances when a problem inadvertently has a number of right solutions that weren’t accounted for throughout problem design, QA, and grading.
The President’s Cup Gameboard reporting options present useful information to the help crew. Assist experiences summarize details about the help tickets dealt with throughout the competitors. They are often filtered for a selected spherical, a selected problem and/or different parameters corresponding to labels. Labels are tags added to particular person tickets that enable the help crew to simply determine, classify and search all tickets. Tickets will be labeled by spherical, concern (e.g., VM-outage), or any parameter the help crew decides to make use of. As soon as tickets are tagged with labels, it’s straightforward to run experiences. Studies enable the help crew to focus on competitors downside areas or points that have to be addressed earlier than an ensuing spherical. Studies may also function a place to begin for the planning of future competitions.
Six Classes Realized in Supporting Cybersecurity Competitions
- Perceive Your Limits. Think about your plan for help when providing a cybersecurity competitors. If 24/7 help will likely be supplied, don’t promote that to potential opponents and assume you possibly can fill the help schedule later. It’s tougher than you assume to safe staffing for each time slot, particularly in a single day. Take into account that in case you comply with a tiered-support technique, not less than two folks have to be scheduled for each shift. Ensure you have sufficient crew members who possess the talents and availability to deal with help assignments.
- Analyze Knowledge. Use your help web site’s reporting options throughout and after a contest to have a look at information. With the President’s Cup, CISA and the SEI use Gameboard’s in depth, built-in reporting options to glean key details about competitors challenges and logistics (corresponding to growing help employees throughout sure hours or realizing help isn’t wanted as a lot as initially thought throughout in a single day hours). Utilizing reporting information might help decide a contest’s staffing wants.
- Guarantee a robust challenge-review course of. A powerful problem testing-and-review course of as highlighted within the Designing Nice Challenges for Cybersecurity Competitors weblog submit is integral to a profitable competitors. The aim right here is to determine and repair any problem points earlier than the competitors even begins. Consider this course of as providing help earlier than help is even essential. Extra challenge-testing earlier than a contest ends in
- Fewer challenge-specific help tickets throughout the competitors,
- happier contributors,
- and a extra passable buyer expertise for the competitors proprietor.
One other space the place a contest web site’s reporting capabilities can present helpful info is problem improvement. Examine what challenges drew probably the most help tickets. Are there frequent threads to among the issues highlighted within the tickets? For instance, if Safety Onion takes a very long time to start out 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 help crew is unable to deal with their shift. Whether or not it’s a proper backup schedule or an on-call record, have a plan helpful for when life interferes together with your competitors.
- Have a simple communication technique that your help crew can use. In at present’s work atmosphere it’s unlikely your help crew 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 crew 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 will help you evolve your help course of for upcoming rounds and future competitions. Method any feedback or inner ideas about your help methodology by way of the eyes of your opponents and prospects. Maintain the next questions in thoughts:
- How can we enhance our competitors to higher fulfill our buyer’s wants?
- How can we make our help course of higher for opponents?
It’s additionally a good suggestion to maintain classes realized monitoring in thoughts not simply to your help course of however for all facets of your cybersecurity competitors.
Assist Audiences – Who Advantages?
These help 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 issues are usually not incidental to attaining the strategic aim of growing and strengthening America’s cybersecurity personnel. A help crew that’s capable of deal with points that come up throughout a contest whereas serving as concierge to opponents satisfies three audiences: competitors contributors, competitors stakeholders, and people who need the US to have a superior cybersecurity workforce.
