Are escape rooms the key to unlocking better cyber security awareness?
Our Researcher Claire Evans gives us the scoop on Metropolitan Police's Cyber Escape Room.
I was recently invited to join a Cyber Escape Room along with Hannah and Alberta from the Community Outreach Team. As I’m carrying out desk based research for the CRC, this was a very exciting opportunity for me to see the practical side of cyber security.
The event was delivered by the Cyber Crime Unit of the Metropolitan Police and the Enfield Cyber Champion, and took place in a secure police building.
I’ve heard of escape rooms but not taken part in one before, so was not sure what to expect. I was relieved to find out we were not going to be locked in a cell!
The event is used as a training tool for businesses to learn cyber security best practices, and involves a storyline around trying to prove a journalist’s innocence. This is done through a combination of videos and interactive props, so is a very hands on experience. You need to solve one clue before you can move on to the next stage.
Examples of puzzles included things like hacking a password based on the personal data the journalist had posted on her Facebook page. It is a very clever way of making you think about how secure your own data is.
My team of three had a great mix of skills, which complemented each other perfectly. Alberta has a masters degree in cyber security so was able to solve the technical issues. I’m autistic, so the ‘logical’ puzzles were a breeze for me. The police officer on our team was the key to using props such as the blacklight torch to find hidden clues, as myself and Alberta had no idea what to do with it!
Once all teams had solved the mystery we had a briefing on cyber security and secure passwords. We were all shocked at how quick it can be to hack some of these, and how a small change can take the hacking time from ‘instantly’ to ‘23 million years’!!
It was great fun, and everyone came away learning something new. A fantastic experience overall and I would definitely recommend businesses take this up as it’s a great idea for a team building exercise!
Visit the Metropolitan Police's Fraud page for more information on reporting, access to resources, and more.