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Effective team process is critical for the performance of cyber security teams. To examine this, we observed two comparably skilled cyber security teams participating in the International Capture the Flag (iCTF) competition held in December 2011. At the conclusion of the competition, we followed up with a focus group discussion with six members from the two teams. In this paper, we present our findings from the focus group interviews, on the relationship between team level factors and team performance. Findings from the focus group discussion indicate that team level factors such as team communication, coordination, team structure, and leadership play important roles in team performance.

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Current education systems must respond to meet the increasing need for cyber security and information technology (IT) professionals. However, little research has been conducted on understanding the development of expertise in cyber security and IT, the efficacy of current systems designed to accelerate expertise and/or train cyber security and IT professionals, and the perceived efficacy of these systems rated by the professionals themselves. Moreover, virtually no research exists with respect to the benefit of traditional (classroom-based) formal education compared to informal (self-taught) learning in these complex settings. This paper attempts to address these questions through the use of an online survey of professionals and a follow-up interview with professionals examining this question.

Cyber analysis is a complex task that requires the coordination of a large sociotechnical system of human analysts working together with technology. Adequate situation awareness of such a complex system requires more than aggregate situation awareness of individuals. Teamwork in the form of communication and information coordination is at the heart of team-level situation awareness. In this position paper, we report observations from previously conducted cognitive task analyses that suggest that teamwork is lacking in many cyber analysis organizations. Communication is ineffective, team roles are inconsistent across organizations, reward structures and selection may thwart collaboration, and the environment is conducive to individual work. Suggestions for improving teamwork in the cyber domain are offered.