Using a critical infrastructure game to provide realistic observation of the human in the loop by criminal justice students

Understanding human behavior is crucial in anticipating adversarial actions during cyberattacks. The Criminal Justice (CJ) discipline offers the necessary frameworks to unpack the complex facets of adversarial behavior and movement, and should therefore be leveraged for their possible contributions to the area of proactive cybersecurity. Yet the discipline remains weak at training current and future CJ workforce on these matters in a hands-on manner. This paper presents a cybersecurity training exercise where a power grid simulator is used to educate CJ students via experiential learning about concepts of cyberattacks and cybersecurity as well as exposing them to doing hands-on cybersecurity field research. The paper reports on Game use as an important opportunity to observe humans put under additional stress in operating conditions. The paper discusses what CJ students learn from multidisciplinary simulation-based exercises, the challenges and limitations they face, and how training this workforce could help contribute towards proactive cyberdefense of critical infrastructure.