Businesses continue to face huge cybersecurity risks , as they too often bypass internet security . This is not surprising, since managers do not always properly assess what is at stake with these risks. This is now expected to change, the new “Interactive Protection Simulation”, or KIPS as it is called, created by security company Kaspersky.
Essentially, KIPS works like a digital board game. It creates teams that are responsible for the cybersecurity of fictional companies that have $200,000 in monthly revenue. Each team manages a budget of $200,000 and has a limited time to address fictional problems. At the end of each round, players on each team learn whether they managed to preserve their team’s revenue or if they created more problems. The winner is the one that managed to preserve the most revenue over 5 rounds.
Players of Interactive Protection Simulation don’t have to build firewalls, but they do have to decide when and if they need to spend money from their budget. In effect, they are asked to decide whether to spend money on defense or on preventing attacks. KIPS players who decide not to spend money on important cybersecurity issues will soon regret it. Over the course of the game, players may need to do everything from installing webto patching servers and training employees.
The important thing is that there are not always obvious reasons or solutions for every threat that players encounter in the game. Of course, managing financial resources will not be the only concern of players. In Kaspersky's KIPS, they will also be asked to carry out simple daily procedures, such as changing passwords, monitoring accounts , etc.
Obviously, different versions of KIPS have been created to cover different parts of companies. It would not be possible for everyone to play the same version, as not everyone belongs to the same industries. Thus, each version of the game also accepts different types of attacks.
Kaspersky's Interactive Protection Simulation aims to address one of the biggest cybersecurity challenges for businesses. This is none other than security mismanagement by employees. Of course, it's not just executives who may be unaware of cybersecurity. Such incidents can occur due to employees' carelessness or because they are too afraid to report mistakes to their superiors.
The website provides information about KIPS as well as additional services related to cybersecurity awareness.
