Abstract:

Building or upgrading cyber security competence has become a favorite topic nowadays, especially after the pandemic context has led to the migration of many activities in the virtual space. Despite an obvious need for training in this constantly changing field, the motivation of the target audience (especially the non-technical one) to qualify in this direction is relatively low and major gaps between countries are registered, although the training curriculum is relatively similar (generally based on the strict technical elements that should be accumulated by students).

In this paper, we tackle the causes of the cyber security capabilities differences between countries (according to the Global Cybersecurity Index) conducting a PEST analysis of cyber security training programs. The identified political, economic, social (with a particular focus on macro-cultural) and technical elements are validated through a comparative analysis between 9 countries representative of the top of the GPI ranking (3 countries), its middle (3 countries) and its end (3 countries).

The obtained results highlighted both the importance of the economic factor, but also of the macrosocial elements for accessing and completing cyber security training programs. The consideration of macrosocial characteristics in the curriculum of cyber security training programs will achieve superior pedagogical effectiveness because students will be provided with a way to develop the opponent's mental frameworks, limiting their own mental obstacles to design the most effective defense and increase resilience.

Hence, we offer a series of suggestions for customizing training programs according to the cultural space in which they take place, leading to increased involvement and motivation of students, with effects in increasing the performance of cyber security training.

Keywords:

Cyber security training, PEST, GPI ranking, cultural factor.