The Practical Requirements of a Malware Training Platform Tailored to Industry and Education

Malware attacks continue to damage organisations and individuals. Whilst existing training such as phishing training is useful to users, it’s applicability to malware attacks is limited. Whilst cyber ranges and cyber training platforms utilising simulation have emerged to provide more realistic cyber training, the use of such technologies is limited within the field of malware. Therefore, researchers have surveyed individuals working within and outside of the cyber security sector to identify the demand for such a solution and what key requirements of such a solution would be. The results indicate 80 percent of respondents would be interested in using a malware training platform capable of simulating malware attacks to enhance their awareness, with only 12 percent of respondents believing that current forms of malware training are adequate. Furthermore, respondents indicated a clear preference for an ability to record the interactions with malware, as well as the ability to design and share training packages. Regarding non functional requirements, respondents identified the ability to utilise such a solution through a web browser as the most in demand requirement, with the ability to self-host the solution and to understand which malware types a user is most at risk by being highly ranked.