This goes without saying that cybersecurity is one of the toughest modern-day challenges in the virtual world today. Employees have long neglected the importance of cybersecurity risks regarding businesses. Making use of the right protocols that are taught in cyber security courses online can help in reducing risks, but businesses generally have a tough time trying to convince employees to remember that and follow the same practices through and through.

Most employees tend to get stuck in the same loop of using old internet habits while not understanding why it would be better to use a more secure option, or to dig into the server of a company with a VPN. All this can be solved with relative ease with gamification.

But before we get into the perks of gamification, let us better understand what the concept is about.

Gamification Simplified

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept of gaming and cybersecurity combined, gamification is exactly what it sounds like. It enhances the user learning experience by making it more fun and infusing the element of gaming. Doing so can further motivate the employees as they get to play with badges, fun graphics, points, and even the option of competing against each other.

Ever since the first adaption way back in 2013, more than 4 million users helped themselves to achieve their goals, be it by drinking enough water or tracking the progress of their work projects on a daily basis, it covered it.

After that, gaming has had a wide range of different applications, even for cyber security courses online. Even though gamification might not be the most perfect model for all kinds of training, it becomes the perfect fit for cybersecurity training.

How Gamified Cyber Security Courses Online Help with Training

Improved Knowledge Retention

This issue in particular is related to the concept of cybersecurity training and cybersecurity courses online. There are plenty of tasks where users generally opt to ask for a manual or consult with a professional in case they fail to remember something. But the catch with cybersecurity is that if users don’t remember what increases the risk, they won’t be able to stop it from happening.

On top of that, best practices in the world of cybersecurity are normally prone to forgetfulness when it comes to employees. In accordance with the statistics from 2016, more than 40 percent of executives were unable to state the cybersecurity protocols of their own companies successfully. If someone like an executive is having a hard time learning all of it, how can the firm expect other employees to know this information while hoping to prevent cybersecurity risk?

There is more to it than just employees who feel engaged which can lead to better learning from the sessions. But it has more to it than just that. Simple science shows that feedback can help users with knowledge retention. Researchers from Harvard were able to find out that regular questions helped in maintaining the focus of the learner while offering increased retention rates.

The good part about gamification is that it is stacked with a similar feedback loop. With simulator games for cyber security courses online, things are bound to go south as soon as the learner makes a wrong choice. With the use of a leaderboard, users are able to see how their performance fares out in comparison with others instantly.

Also, the use of badges can make things seem interesting for the users as they get to know how soon they have reached the next level or not. It makes it easier for them since they get to know what they have done wrong and are offered a chance to play again to make things right for progress. This further makes room for plenty of new opportunities for better feedback, making the process fun instead of punishing.

Not to mention that apart from all this, different studies have shown that gamification has a significant effect on the retention rate in a learning and knowledgeable environment and knowledge retention is a key focus with the concept of cybersecurity training with cybersecurity courses online, this makes it an excellent choice for overall growth and development.

Increased Motivation

People are always on the lookout for motivation and the field of cybersecurity is no different. Motivation can help see a task in a completely different light and gamification for cybersecurity is exactly what one needs to make that happen. One can think of it as more or less of a slog, with gamification being a novel challenge in all of it.

For starters, leaderboards can make up for the competitive edge in workers during the tasks. A simulation where one has to prevent a major disaster by making all the right choices can be a fun way to add some challenges to a workday. In case there is a game that the users interact with on a daily basis, not only does it log for increased cybersecurity wins, but it can also offer a great deal of cybersecurity dopamine rush.

The trick lies in carefully designing the concept of gamification. According to a study from a renowned source, not all kinds of gamification is not necessarily effective. Instead, the elements of gamification are responsible for making the task more meaningful, which is precisely the kind of effect that businesses are looking to have with cybersecurity training via cybersecurity courses online. Look for someone who has ample experience with gamification and is creative enough to know about the elements of success with gamified cybersecurity training.

A Fitting Match

Generally, when people say cybersecurity training, it comes off as an area that suffers from a lack of knowledge retention and motivation, even though with time, it has become an essential piece in solving different business risk puzzles. All these issues are addressed head-on with gamification while also being a serious learning tool that can help keep data about learners for integrating the same as part of a bigger training program.

With the prevalence of cybersecurity risk being taken into consideration, gamification comes as a worthy investment that can further help in preserving the quality and integrity of the computer systems of your business. An ROI that is almost impossible to ignore under any circumstances.

Easy to Measure

Most people fail to understand the point that just because gamification is fun and exciting, it still doesn’t take away anything from it being a great learning tool. Considering the nature of gamification and how it tracks the progress of a user via points, leaderboards, scores, etc., making the concept of gamification is highly measurable. This in turn makes it a great option for firms that are looking to closely track the progress for improving cybersecurity awareness in their employees.

A great and neatly designed gamification program can have effective analytics and reporting combined. Gamification can also offer useful insight and data about engagement with training and learner behavior. If you are working on gamification with an expert, it can better help you understand how you can develop your program so as to order insightful, and meaningful data on learners.