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The increasing complexity and ubiquity of cyber threats in today’s digital age have amplified the global demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals. Yet, traditional methods of cybersecurity education—often theory-heavy, passive, and decontextualized—struggle to meet the dynamic needs of learners across varying stages of the educational pathway. This chapter explores the transformative potential of serious games and game-based learning (GBL) in cyber security education, that spans from early student engagement in secondary schools, to immersive learning in higher education, and finally to continuous skill development within the corporate sector. By analysing current practices and presenting a series of illustrative use cases, this chapter offers a roadmap for integrating serious games as a meaningful pedagogical tool across the cyber security learning journey. Serious games—games designed with primary objectives beyond entertainment—hold particular promise for cyber security education. They allow learners to interact with complex systems, simulate real-world scenarios, and apply knowledge in risk-free environments that foster experimentation, problem-solving, and critical thinking. This active form of learning is well-aligned with the inherently interactive and adversarial nature of cybersecurity, where users must often think like both defender and attacker. Moreover, the adaptability and scalability of digital game environments make them particularly suitable for a field as rapidly evolving and multifaceted as cybersecurity. The chapter explores the theoretical underpinnings of game-based learning and the psychology of motivation, drawing on frameworks such as constructivism, experiential learning, and flow theory. It then moves to examine the specific affordances that serious games bring to cyber security education, such as simulating cyberattacks, enabling incident response scenarios, reinforcing secure coding practices, and enhancing awareness of social engineering tactics. These affordances are discussed in the context of three critical stages in the cybersecurity educational pathway: secondary education, higher education, and professional corporate development.

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Let’s Play a Game: From the Classroom to the Boardroom–The Integration of Serious Games Into the Cyber Security Educational Pathway

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Ian Caple,
  • Basel Halek,
  • Vlad Sassone

摘要

The increasing complexity and ubiquity of cyber threats in today’s digital age have amplified the global demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals. Yet, traditional methods of cybersecurity education—often theory-heavy, passive, and decontextualized—struggle to meet the dynamic needs of learners across varying stages of the educational pathway. This chapter explores the transformative potential of serious games and game-based learning (GBL) in cyber security education, that spans from early student engagement in secondary schools, to immersive learning in higher education, and finally to continuous skill development within the corporate sector. By analysing current practices and presenting a series of illustrative use cases, this chapter offers a roadmap for integrating serious games as a meaningful pedagogical tool across the cyber security learning journey. Serious games—games designed with primary objectives beyond entertainment—hold particular promise for cyber security education. They allow learners to interact with complex systems, simulate real-world scenarios, and apply knowledge in risk-free environments that foster experimentation, problem-solving, and critical thinking. This active form of learning is well-aligned with the inherently interactive and adversarial nature of cybersecurity, where users must often think like both defender and attacker. Moreover, the adaptability and scalability of digital game environments make them particularly suitable for a field as rapidly evolving and multifaceted as cybersecurity. The chapter explores the theoretical underpinnings of game-based learning and the psychology of motivation, drawing on frameworks such as constructivism, experiential learning, and flow theory. It then moves to examine the specific affordances that serious games bring to cyber security education, such as simulating cyberattacks, enabling incident response scenarios, reinforcing secure coding practices, and enhancing awareness of social engineering tactics. These affordances are discussed in the context of three critical stages in the cybersecurity educational pathway: secondary education, higher education, and professional corporate development.