Kaspersky Lab is now in Gaming: KIPS Online Game
Kapsersky Lab is one of the world’s leading cyber security solutions provider. As we walk ourselves more into the digital lifestyle, cybersecurity becomes an even bigger issue than ever before. The problem with this right now is the awareness revolving around cybersecurity. Of course, as one of the leading solutions provider, Kaspersky Lab has to do something about this. How? Via games of course.
So Kaspersky Lab is now in the gaming industry with their latest table top game, Kaspersky Interactive Protection Simulation (KIPS) game. Before we tell you where you can buy the game, we have to tell you that it is strictly online, accessible via a link; which we will mention later. Before that, let us take a closer look at the game (which we played, and lost today).
The new online game is a co-op style board game that puts you in the shoes of an organisation’s cyber security personnel. You can have multiple teams in a single game session and each team will compete with each other to generate the most in-game revenue by taking measured steps and precautions on preventing and handling cyber security issues in the given organisation scenario. The possible maximum revenue in the five-round game is $1,000,000 with an extra $100,000 bonus when you complete additional objectives.
The KIPS’ mechanics are simple enough with three decks of colour coded cards that serves different functions and represents different actions. The two green decks are cards that can only be used and implemented once in the whole game. The Orange cards can be used again and again in every round.
Every round’s optimum revenue is $200,000 so the aim of each round is to hit that revenue number. The scenarios can be different in every game though so there is no sure way to win the game each and every time. There are of course correct paths in each round to maximise the revenue to $200,000, but that path is highly dependent on what you have done in the previous rounds. Each mistake or action can snowball throughout the game which can lead to dire consequences at the later rounds of the game.
Source: Kaspersky Lab Malaysia
There are two-time factors to KIPS as well. The first that you should be concerned about is the round timer which gets shorter after every round. Then there is the time value of each round of 100 time. How that depletes is via the action cards. Each action card has a time cost to it so you have to choose your cards carefully. Other than managing the revenue numbers as a financial challenge; there is the question of budget too. Each team runs on the same limited budget to run the programs they wish to run to patch their organisation’s security loopholes and crises.
So why does Kaspersky turn to table-top gaming instead of the usual campaigns? Simple, learning should be fun; and the best way to learn is to have fun while learning. So the game adds a co-op element while offering a competitive landscape for team members.
Source: Kaspersky Lab Malaysia
It is not purely a team-building exercise though. It is technically a training platform to raise awareness on cyber security and its importance in an organisation. The scenarios, according to Kaspersky are based on real-life case studies that within Kaspersky Lab’s databases. The experience based scenario gives the game that added realism and immersion.
The KIPS game brings to light not only the difficulty that cyber security experts face in their day job. It also brings to light the significance of preventive actions and reactive actions to global cyber threats and attacks. The game as well adds a new dynamic and injects a little bit of fun factor when it comes to cyber security training.
To learn more about the game itself or try playing the game you can head to Kaspersky Lab’s corporate website here, or read their full blog post here.
Source: Kaspersky Lab Malaysia
Originally published at techENT.