Protection and Deception: Discovering Game Theory and Cyber Literacy through a Novel Board Game Experience

Abstract: Cyber literacy merits serious research attention because it addresses a confluence of specialization and generalization; cybersecurity is often conceived of as approachable only by a technological intelligentsia, yet its interdependent nature demands education for a broad population. Therefore, educational tools should lead participants to discover technical knowledge in an accessible and attractive framework. In this paper, we present Protection and Deception (P&G), a novel two-player board game. P&G has three main contributions. First, it builds cyber literacy by giving participants "hands-on" experience with game pieces that have the capabilities of cyber-attacks such as worms, masquerading attacks/spoofs, replay attacks, and Trojans. Second, P&G teaches the important game-theoretic concepts of asymmetric information and resource allocation implicitly and non-obtrusively through its game play. Finally, it strives for the important objective of security education for underrepresented minorities and people without explicit technical experience. We tested P&G at a community center in Manhattan with middle- and high school students, and observed enjoyment and increased cyber literacy along with suggestions for improvement of the game. Together with these results, our paper also presents images of the attractive board design and 3D printed game pieces, together with a Monte-Carlo analysis that we used to ensure a balanced gaming experience.