Guide for designing cyber security exercises

Cyber security exercises are a very effective way of learning the practical aspects of information security. But designing such exercises is not an easy task and requires the work of several people. This paper presents a number of steps and guidelines that should be followed when designing a new cyber security exercise. The steps include: defining the objectives, choosing an approach, designing network topology, creating a scenario, establishing a set of rules, choosing appropriate metrics and learning lessons. The intended audience of this paper is persons who are in charge with design and organization of a new cyber security exercise and do not have the experience of previous exercises.