A powerful cybersecurity protection is important to most public- or private-sector actions in the USA. In 2019, Govt Order 13870 said that, “America’s cybersecurity workforce is a strategic asset that protects the American individuals, the homeland, and the American lifestyle.” One end result of this govt order is an effort to foster cybersecurity schooling by means of competitions. These occasions enable members to sort out real-world cybersecurity issues in a timed, aggressive, secure surroundings by means of hands-on challenges that assess and construct cybersecurity expertise. 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 surroundings 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 associate 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 individuals 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 forth., had been created to assist the President’s Cup. Whereas designing high-level challenges is an important a part of a cybersecurity competitors, having a assist crew that may course of and resolve rivals’ considerations in a well timed style is a essential 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.
Help Group Function and Construction
Despite the fact that members are competing, they nonetheless often want the help of a assist crew. The purpose of the assist crew is to assist rivals expertise a seamless occasion. The assist crew doesn’t supply hints to the people and groups once they get caught throughout a problem; it serves as an middleman between rivals and the competitors’s platform and problem engineers every time problem questions and/or platform points come up. Generally a technical challenge with a problem or the competitors surroundings wants restore, whereas different occasions a competitor seeks readability a couple of specific a part of the problem. The assist crew retains the wheels transferring.
Help Hours and Tiers
The primary choice when planning assist for a contest is deciding when to supply reside assist. Some competitions supply reside assist 24/7, whereas others supply reside assist for particular occasions through the rounds. Both method, it’s vital to obviously talk the hours when rivals can and can’t count on reside help.
The President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitors is run by means of Gameboard, an open supply utility, the place customers entry the challenges and attain out to the assist crew by means of the Gameboard-hosted ticketing system. Earlier than tickets begin arriving, it’s a good suggestion to interrupt the assist crew into three tiers to greatest triage and resolve points.
- Tier 1. Throughout the competitors, Tier 1 assist workers are answerable for fielding preliminary assist tickets, acknowledging motion is being taken and speaking with the rivals till the problem is resolved. The emphasis is to resolve assist requests as quickly as potential since there are time constraints through the aggressive rounds. Some examples of Tier 1 points embrace registration questions, profile updates, and basic questions on guidelines.
- Tier 2. Generally a problem have to 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 crew. Another examples of Tier 2 points embrace issues with grading, digital machines that fail to launch, or clarification questions on wording in problem documentation.
- Tier 3. Tier-3 issues, akin to infrastructure outages or bugs, could be essentially the most severe to deal with due to their potential severity. For instance, if digital machines for all challenges are instantly unable to begin, the whole competitors grinds to a halt till the issue is rectified. Subsequently, infrastructure consultants have to be accessible or on name in case an pressing scenario emerges.
How do rivals attain assist, and the way is an issue funneled to the proper tier for decision?
Help Workflow and Responses
Throughout the President’s Cup, customers submit assist tickets by means of the Gameboard utility. The assist interface robotically captures the particular President’s Cup problem, the consumer’s PlayerID, and a assist code that helps the assist 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 rivals that they’ve obtained their request and can preserve them knowledgeable of progress towards decision. It’s vital to quickly talk with rivals and attempt to resolve most tickets inside quarter-hour because the rivals 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 greatest to strategy every assist ticket individually in order that customers know their particular query is getting addressed. The purpose is to not reply questions in a rote style however to reply to every competitor’s scenario in a passable method.
Weekend and after-hour responses current distinctive conditions. If rivals can take part throughout occasions when reside assist gained’t be staffed, the unavailability of assist have to 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 method to resolve a problem) or extreme sufficient (e.g., an infrastructure outage causes a contest delay) to require fast or post-round adjudication.
Sometimes a consumer’s assist ticket reveals an unknown downside or infrastructure challenge. If, after investigation, directors decide that an issue with the problem or different competitors infrastructure was the trigger, they might 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 usually awarded in line with how a lot time directors imagine the competitor misplaced because of the 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 needs to be thought-about right however was graded as incorrect by the problem. This may 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 knowledge to the assist crew. Help studies summarize details about the assist tickets dealt with through the competitors. They are often filtered for a selected spherical, a selected problem and/or different parameters akin to labels. Labels are tags added to particular person tickets that enable the assist crew to simply determine, classify and search all tickets. Tickets could be labeled by spherical, challenge (e.g., VM-outage), or any parameter the assist crew decides to make use of. As soon as tickets are tagged with labels, it’s simple to run studies. Reviews enable the assist crew to focus on competitors downside areas or points that have to be addressed earlier than an ensuing spherical. Reviews may function a place to begin for the planning of future competitions.
Six Classes Discovered in Supporting Cybersecurity Competitions
- Perceive Your Limits. Contemplate your plan for assist when providing a cybersecurity competitors. If 24/7 assist will likely be supplied, don’t promote that to potential rivals and assume you’ll be able to fill the assist schedule later. It’s more durable than you suppose to safe staffing for each time slot, particularly in a single day. Take into account that for those who comply with a tiered-support technique, not less than two individuals have to be scheduled for each shift. Be sure you have sufficient crew members who possess the talents and availability to deal with assist assignments.
- Analyze Information. 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 in depth, built-in reporting options to glean key details about competitors challenges and logistics (akin to growing assist workers 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 also 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 publish is integral to a profitable competitors. The purpose 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 essential. Extra challenge-testing earlier than a contest leads to
- Fewer challenge-specific assist tickets through 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 essentially 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 surroundings, it is perhaps helpful to future rivals 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 crew is unable to deal with their shift. Whether or not it’s a proper backup schedule or an on-call checklist, have a plan useful for when life interferes together with your competitors.
- Have a straightforward communication technique that your assist crew can use. In right now’s work surroundings it’s unlikely your assist crew will bodily be in the identical room throughout aggressive rounds (particularly after enterprise hours and on weekends). Collaborative instruments akin 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 (akin to a sudden downside together with your competitors’s cloud supplier).
- Preserve a working support-team classes realized checklist all through the competitors that will help you evolve your assist course of for upcoming rounds and future competitions. Method any feedback or inside solutions about your assist methodology by means of the eyes of your rivals and clients. Preserve the next questions in thoughts:
- How can we enhance our competitors to higher fulfill our buyer’s wants?
- How can we make our assist course of higher for rivals?
It’s additionally a good suggestion to maintain classes realized monitoring in thoughts not simply on your assist course of however for all facets of your cybersecurity competitors.
Help Audiences – Who Advantages?
These assist practices are the results of the SEI’s expertise working with CISA’s President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competitors. Help technique works in tandem with problem improvement when planning a cybersecurity competitors, so support-team issues aren’t incidental to attaining the strategic purpose of creating and strengthening America’s cybersecurity personnel. A assist crew that’s in a position to deal with points that come up throughout a contest whereas serving as concierge to rivals satisfies three audiences: competitors members, competitors stakeholders, and people who need the USA to have a superior cybersecurity workforce.
