Ethical Hacker vs. Cyber Defender

Background

This game doesn’t have a limitation on number of players, so you can include all your students in your class. It is a fun way to introduce the simple concept of attacking and defending cyber networks and systems to students using the “Candy Man,” or the designated Ethical Hacker, and the “Policeman,” or Cyber Defender. The Ethical Hacker sends signals to players signifying he’s trying to hack a system using one simple sign like a wink, nose tweak, lip pucker, and so forth. If the Ethical Hacker accidentally signals to the Cyber Defender, the game or round is over.

One game should take around 20 mins.

Instructions

Remove all face cards except for one Ace (Ethical Hacker) and one King (Cyber Defender). If you have a larger group, you can add in another set of an Ace and King but use just one set when you play your first time, so you can get a feel for it.

Explain to the students what the Ace and King cards represent and that the number cards represent either the victims of hacks or individuals who cyber defenders protect.

If you have 20 students, you’ll have an Ace, King, and 18 number cards.

Shuffle and deal one card to each player. The players shouldn’t let others know what they have and should not indicate if they are the Ethical Hacker or Cyber Defender.

After all the cards are passed out, the sign from the Ethical Hacker conspicuously begins (in this case a wink). If one of the 18 number players sees the sign by the Ethical Hacker, they lay their card down and say, “I’ve been hacked.” The Ethical Hacker may pause and look around the group and try to deceive the Cyber Defender into thinking they’re just one of the number cards.

While cards are being laid down with players’ voices uttering, “I’ve been Hacked,” the Cyber Defender looks for the Ethical Hacker. If he thinks he knows, he says, “Got You!”, and the person he accuses lays down their card. If it’s an Ace, the round ends, and the Ethical Hacker was found. If it’s not, the game continues, and the person with that number card is out of the game until the next round.

Once someone is out by being hacked, they should avoid eye contact with the Ethical Hacker to not tip off the Cyber Defender.

You can play multiple rounds and/or keep score, depending on your time and a gauge of your students’ interest. Between each round, you could discuss the different types of attacks like phishing or a DNS attack.

This game helps students understand what it means for Hackers to look for vulnerabilities inside systems and how Cyber Defenders need to find those vulnerabilities in the systems they’re protecting. The act of searching on the part of the Cyber Defender and sneakiness on the part of the Ethical Hacker should hit home with your students and solidify this concept and help get them interested to keep learning about the exciting field of cybersecurity.