Cybersecurity professionals—from SOC analysts to pen testers—need to incorporate frequent training and learning experiences, to keep up with increasing threats and the latest tools. Hands-on training exercises and events are an effective tool for preparing teams to handle real-world threats.
Accenture turned to Snap Labs to design a cyber lab and capture the flag event for their annual training conference.
Accenture holds an annual training conference for their Advanced Attack and Readiness Operations group. The purpose of the conference is to bring together security professionals across the global Accenture organization to learn, share ideas, and create a sense of team unity.
They decided to enhance their training curriculum with a Capture the Flag event focused on penetration testing. The CTF would need to be accessible to a variety of skill levels, support over fifty participants, and allow team collaboration. Accenture turned to Snap Labs to design a custom cyber lab on our Instant Lab platform to deliver a meaningful CTF experience.
The Snap Labs platform allowed us to design a realistic network environment, with industry specific data and simulations, that could be reliably spun up and duplicated in minutes to meets spikes in demand for CTFs and other events. We were able to incorporate real-world CTF objectives and scoring around our existing lab infrastructure, which increased participant engagement during the training event, without compromising the realism of the lab environment.
Over 50 team members participated in the CTF event, and they ranged from beginners, just starting their careers in cybersecurity, to seasoned veterans on the FusionX team. For those participants early in their career path, they were able to get a taste of what it would be like to perform a penetration test, and the FusionX team identified several standout participants.
The CTF event was filled with teamwork and knowledge sharing. The CTF offered participants realistic scenarios with meaningful escalation paths. The winning team was even awarded tickets to BlackHat!
Accenture also now has a lab environment they can redeploy on demand for future CTFs and events. Ongoing access to the lab will also provide their teams with the ability to test new strategies, conduct research, or practice new skills without the need to set up lab environments from scratch.