Offensive Cyber Operations (OCO) are complex tasks involving abstract and logical concepts that are difficult for end users to synthesize and engage with. Typical user engagement involves using a keyboard and mouse, and working with Command Line or Graphical User Interfaces (CLIs and GUIs). While these tools let users command tools, they do not provide robust situational awareness and they require extensive training and experience to achieve competence. This paper describes the analysis, design, and development of a new cyber interface that uses input and visualization methods borrowed from the game industry to fully immerse the operator more naturally in the cyber battlespace. This type of tool has never been used in the OCO space and has neither been openly welcomed nor understood within the community. Until now, stakeholders have not seen a prototype to demonstrate the potential of this more natural type of interface, which gives the operator a better understanding of the abstract environment to facilitate better decision making and reduce human mistakes. To create this new user interface, two organizations collaborated: one representing current OCO training and state-of-the-art OCO tools, and the other representing game design. Together, these organizations designed a new cyber interface focused on three primary goals: to reduce complexity and training time, to improve situational awareness, and to reduce human error. This paper discusses the standard OCO work environment and its challenges for end users, the results of our user analysis that drove the design process, the game-based hardware and software considerations used by the team, and the prototype interface itself, along with informal playtest reactions from end users.
Command Shift: Exploring Modern Gaming Technologies to Create Next-Generation OCO Interfaces
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