Immersive and Authentic Learning Environments to Mitigate Security Vulnerabilities in Networked Game Devices

Growing numbers of consumer entertainment devices such as game consoles and other portable game devices are seeing increased utilization as Internet As such these devices do face the same online threats experienced by other more familiar networked devices such as personal computers, either directed or indirect. Unlike mature personal computing devices, few, if any, software applications exist to provide an indication of attack or compromise of these devices by malicious software or users. Utilizing the same analysis and penetration testing methodologies as networked personal computing devices, the potential for exploitation is examined. The results from this research forms the framework of a 3D immersive game designed to educate the networked game device user about the potential security risks. In the context of a game content taxonomy, a potential mitigation technique is demonstrated utilizing an immersive virtual world game environment in which the player learns about these threats and ways to protect themselves.