Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence and security agency is using Minecraft, a sandbox game enjoyed by almost 21 million people, to recruit talents for the cybersecurity industry. GCHQ launched Cyphinx to filter prospects and induce interest for a career in the field as part of the Cyber Security Challenge UK.

Minecraft, a game developed by Mojang, which was purchased by Microsoft for $2.5 billion, allows players to build all kinds of things using blocks. The simple graphics and the open-world nature of the game attracted a lot of people, both adults and youngsters.

The game system and the massive community, along with the demographics it covered, provided the perfect environment for GCHQ to raise the Cyphinx skyscraper, which contains games that will test research skills and logic, and challenges involving cipher decryptions, data loss prevention and other daily tasks of cybersecurity professionals.

"The big thing missing from bringing talent into the industry was actually engaging the talent where they live, which is in the games world," said Jay Abbott, Cyphinx technical director, in an interview with WIRED. "It's designed to try and engage people who aren't even thinking about cybersecurity as a career."

Players will progress into further stages after completing the challenge they are in. The challenges completed and how the player performs inside the skyscraper will be used to build up a gamer's digital résumé. The games were developed by several cybersecurity firms within Europe.

Games within Cyphinx will also be used for the Cyber Security Challenge UK, an outreach program targeted at kids in the UK. The games will serve as a measuring stick for children's cyber skills.

The move is in preparation for the forecasted shortage of cybersecurity professionals. According to a study published by (ISC)², the cybersecurity industry will lack an approximated 1.5 million personnel by 2020.

At the moment, Cyphinx challenges can only be played by users in Europe. The registration to gain access will fall under the Cyber Security Challenge UK website.

Photo: Kenming Wang | Flickr

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