A Multidimensional Cyber Defence Exercise: Emphasis on Emotional, Social and Cognitive Aspects

Hands-on and practical learning has been key to cybersecurity education and training success. Cyber Defence Exercises (CDX) are a common approach to training, testing, and verifying technical and soft skills. However, full-scale CDX implementation is also an expensive training event. In order to advance such exercises to the next level, CDX organisers should further focus on educational, psychological and cross-domain relationships. The paper discusses and proposes a multidimensional approach for CDX that balances cognitive, emotional and social aspects critical for successful interdisciplinary learning. We share our experience incorporating knowledge from well-known psychology theories to CDX. We derive and describe seven elementary ingredients if a CDX is to meet the interdisciplinary and critical thinking needs of defensive cyberspace operations.