With wargaming, Alcyconie extends the field of cybersecurity to influence strategies and field operations

Alcyconie expands the field of cybersecurity with wargaming

The use of games to put a problem into practice is gradually becoming an ergonomic and effective solution in many professional environments that were inherently hermetic to the idea of initiating a game approach as a tool for awareness and training.

From now on, gamification generates a cyclical interest according to the challenges of the period we are going through. Today, wargaming is on the rise and is coming to the European Cyber Week (ECW) 2023 through the front door, with an educational seminar and the demonstration of several education and training games.

The military world has always had a particular attachment to the wargaming methodology implemented to optimize the operations planning process. In view of the multitude of uniforms present at ECW, it is clear that the return of the notion of high-intensity warfare in the strategic debate revives the alternative of simulation in favor of the apprehension of current conflicts.

In its use, wargaming also illustrates a convergence of the expectations of the civilian and military worlds. The growing porosity between the armed forces and civilian companies, particularly since the advent of cyber, continues even in the use of common tools.

It was therefore legitimate for the consultants involved in defence activities at Alcyconie to look into the subject.

Wargaming, a vector of awareness, education and training

Indeed, the wargame is a tool that is both practical and effective. It is with this objective in mind that Alcyconie presented two gaming platforms at ECW that enrich the catalog of its services. ” In order to meet our customers’ expectations, we are developing specific tools to optimize our interventions. Wargaming is one of the vectors we use to raise awareness, train and train ,” explains Stéphanie Ledoux, CEO and founder of Alcyconie, to the many people who came to attend the demonstration phase of the wargaming seminar.

Indeed, in line with cyber issues, at the crossroads of crisis communication and digital technology, Alcyconie offers its expertise in the fields of influence through awareness-raising and training actions in so-called psychological operations, particularly in the context of cyber influence warfare.

Stéphanie Ledoux continues: “On the one hand, we have a serious game whose objective is to raise awareness of the mechanisms of influence through an electoral campaign for access to the presidency of a parliamentary monarchical state. On the other hand, we offer a fully modular simulation to respond to decision-making issues in the context of a modern multi-environment and multi-field military engagement. You embody a staff acting in the kinetic, informational and digital fields thanks to an intuitive and realistic resolution system.”

Alcyconie’s use of games is part of a process. The course makes it possible to measure the achievement of initial objectives, but also to support the increase in the decision-making capacity of a cyber crisis unit and to identify the weak points of a structure or a mode of operation.

A fully modular simulation to understand complex situations

Upstream, the design of the game adapts to the client, it makes it possible to define the most relevant simulation model on which the creation of the resolution modus will apply.

During the game, the animation is conducted by a game master. He is the guarantor of the method and allows players to free themselves from learning the rules to better concentrate on the mechanics of the game and thus implement the solutions to the proposed problems.

Downstream, an analysis grid specific to each session makes it possible to measure the progress of the participants’ journey in the acquisition and/or achievement of the assigned objectives. This framework guarantees the process adapted to the use of wargaming beyond the gaming sphere.

Anticipation is part of Alcyconie’s DNA: we prepare many organizations – private, public and institutional – for cyber crisis management. Wargaming mobilizes the cognitive resources of the participants, anchors the thinking patterns necessary for the expectations of prospecting – in particular for the strategic dimension – whether industrial or military.

The theater simulation solution presented by Alcyconie at ECW is fully modular. It is possible to define the terrain, the level of commitment, the number of actors or the type of equipment deployed.

This game system gives pride of place to military maneuvers that can then be dissected to better understand complex situations and thus allow operators to anticipate scenarios that would be too expensive to unfold in real life or too abstract to present without relevant support.

Confronting the unthinkable, the unexpected, forces us to act differently and thus stay one step ahead of the enemy: this was our philosophy when designing the game.

Wargaming at Alcyconie is therefore conceived as an approach that adapts to the objectives set in conjunction with the client. A tool to develop the reflection, creativity and anticipation of the participants who then enter into a multi-step process.

It is also a didactic tool: from awareness raising to acculturation, including the training of the teams that will be within their structure tomorrow to the management of a cyber crisis.