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Cyber Gamification: Immersive Labs and TryHackMe

10 Aug 2020

All of us have heard of how gaming can become addictive. As previous gamer I know all too well how addictive and competitive video games can become. But, what if we can apply that same magic to more positive skill training? Specifically in cyber security given that hands on nature of various techniques and roles in the sector.

I'm going to do just that, well from my own personal perspective and experience with cyber wargaming platforms such as immersive labs and TryHackMe. Although there are lots of other great sites on the web, I've spent the most time with these site specifically. Throughout this time I managed to reach the top two percent globally on both these platforms, which you can see from images below.

  • Ranked #477/17,873 on Immersive Labs - Top 0.02% (19/12/2019)

  • Ranked #6659/138,832 on TryHackMe - Top 0.03% (17/07/2020)

image of the ctf team
image of the ctf team
image of the ctf team

Both immersive labs and tryhackme do a good job of letting the user explore the environment and topics without locking you to specificity into a specific pathway, once you do choose a point of interest they start of slowly building the user confidence, scaling the problems with each right answer and adding the right amount of difficultly to make it challenging, novel and entertaining. Coupled with a points system and leaderboard that feeds into the reward pathway of the brain. We can start to see why these platforms can become addictive and allow users to build knowledge and understanding in a fun and engaing way just like playing video games.

By doing so the platforms are connecting us with imagery, emotions and outcomes which have been shown to enhance learning and memory encoding for the long term.

Overall, from my persective I found this to be the most productive and enjoyable way to learn a board range of cyber secuirty tool, terms and pathways from OINT to Malware Analysis and everything in between. There isnt much that can replace practical use of tools with real use cases where students can get an insight into careers and pathway that intrest them.