Overview

Project Ares® is a gamified cybersecurity learning platform that takes training out of the classroom and into an immersive, interactive real-world environment.

The cyber learning curriculum in Project Ares is made up of 3 tiers of hands-on activities. Cyber games are arcade style games that use repetitive education techniques to teach users foundational concepts (e.g. the cyber kill chain used in incident detection/response or number system conversion used in digital forensics). In Battle Rooms, trainees use security tools to practice tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) in exercises that map to work roles found in the NIST/NICE framework. The platform’s persistent capability allows for constant practice of network defense, giving organizations a better understanding of cybersecurity workforce preparedness and gaps in skill, helping leaders effectively direct future training and address organizational vulnerabilities. Full-scale, high-fidelity cyber ranges deliver offensive and defensive mission scenarios. Security professionals who actively train in realistic network environments can build skills and gain experiences that they would on the job, allowing them to handle complex, evolving threats.

The artificial intelligent adviser, Athena, helps players understand concepts so they can be successful with mission tasks. Athena provides on-demand feedback to players, greatly reducing instructor workload with automated scoring.

The benefit of Project Ares is its active, applied learning capability. Research shows people retain only 10% of information after one week, while active learning retention reaches 75%. Active learning approach to skills development fills a “cyber readiness” gap in the market, providing proactive, on-demand, cloud-based training to professionals who want to train anytime, anywhere, without paying for costly courses. Running on Microsoft Azure, the platforms’ scalability promotes individual and team-based learning. The “learn by doing” approach improves learner information retention, which in the case of cyber training, can effectively harden an organization’s security posture.