Navigating to the Assessment Creation option
You can create an assessment by selecting Manage [1] in the mode dropdown in the sidebar, clicking Home [2], and then clicking the Create button [3]. Clicking Create will then open a dropdown where you can select to create an Assessment [4].
Selecting an Assessment Creation Option
A modal will appear where you can select which type of assessment you would like to create (custom or template-based). Select the Create Assessment using Template option.
Selecting a template
Template selection page
You would have now landed on the template selection screen, where there is a list of all templates available to choose from on the left panel.
The templates panel has a list of templates card, which has the snapshot of most important details such as information on what that template assessment assesses for. On a template card, you can see:
Duration of the template assessment.
Proficiency split in percentage. This is based on the type of challenges in a template.
Professional specialties it assesses for.
List of Skills it assess for.
List of techniques(such as Metadata analysis) and technologies(such as Windows, Linus etc.) it assesses for.
Filtering and searching for the right template
You can search a template by a typing a keyword in the search input. This could be a particular skill that you are looking to assess, or it could be a broad cyber area such as Intelligence. It could be a technique such as Metadata Analysis, or a technology such as Linux. It could also be the proficiency level such as beginner.
If there is a template that assesses for your keyword, you will see it populate in the templates panel on the left.
You can even select from a list of skills from the skills dropdown to search for a template.
Previewing a template
Terminology
You will come across following terms as metadata attached to challenges in this assessment, which make up the assessment profile:
Professional Specialty-Professional specialties denote broad categories of cyber operations. Each challenge aligns with one of these specialties, providing a structured framework for classification.
Skills- Skills indicate the specific, acquired ability necessary to solve a challenge within a given timeframe or effort. Each challenge should necessitate one or two specific skills linked to the relevant professional specialty.
Techniques- Technologies include the environments (e.g., Windows, Linux, Docker) and tools (e.g., Splunk, Nessus, Python) incorporated within the challenge, crucial for its resolution.
Technologies-Techniques refer to the specific methods or strategies required to resolve a challenge. There is a preset list of techniques to select from, with the option to add more if needed.
To preview a template, simply click the preview[1] button on the template card of the template you wish to preview.
You will now be able to see the details of the template assessment on the screen.
On top you will find the number of challenges[2] included and the duration[3] of the assessment template.
Skill Proficiency Heat Map
This heat map shows the skills that are being tested in this assessment template in relation to the proficiency level.
The X-Axis shows the skills[1], and the professional specialty[2] it belongs to, and Y-axis represents the Proficiency level[3]. The blue-grey boxes[4] show which skill of what proficiency has been covered in this assessment. You can also hover over the boxes to the skill and proficiency combination it is representing.
Techniques and Technologies in the assessment
Techniques refer to the specific methods or strategies required to resolve a challenge. For example, Metadata analysis, timestamp analysis etc
Technologies include the environments (e.g., Windows, Linux, Docker) and tools (e.g., Splunk, Nessus, Python) incorporated within the challenge, crucial for its resolution.
All the techniques/technologies in an assessment are listed in the bar graphs shown below. The length of the bar represents the weightage of that technique/technology in the assessment, and the number of segments on the bar represent the number of challenges the technique is a part of. You can hover over the bar segments to see the challenge name.
Challenges table
This section shows all the challenges that are included in the template. The table columns are as follows:
Challenge Name[1]
Professional Specialty[2] - These represent broad categories of commonly found technical functions within the field of cyber operations.
Skills[3] - Skills indicate the specific, acquired ability necessary to solve a challenge within a given timeframe or effort.
Type[4]- A challenge type can be
Static(includes static artefacts such as PDF, markdown files etc.)
Lab-based
Container based
View[5]- This opens the challenge drawer where you can see more information for a challenge such as description, attachment names, names of lab attached etc.
Note : When you confirm that you will be using this template, you will be able to see additional information regarding the challenge such as attached files, hints, lab connection or docker-container links.
Confirming the usage of a template
Once you have found the right template for your organisation, click on the Get this template button to proceed to use the template.
Upon clicking this, a modal appears which asks you to give some important details regarding the assessment, which can always be edited later. First you are required to hive a name to the new assessment that going to be created using this template. This name is public facing and will be displayed to candidates.
Type in the Assessment Name[1] section to give a name of your choice.
You can set when the assessment will start by entering a date and time into the Assessment Start [2] field. Participants can only start the assessment after the time specified here. If no start date or time is specified, then participants can start the assessment as soon as they are invited to join the assessment.
You can also set when the assessment will end by entering a date and time into the Assessment End [3] field. Participants cannot start the assessment after the end time. However, participants who have already started the assessment before the specified end time will be able to finish the assessment.
The dates and times you select here will reflect your system’s time. For example, if your system was using AEST and you scheduled an assessment to start at 09:00am, then the assessment would start at 09:00am AEST.
Click Generate Assessment[4] to create the assessment. If you quit the creation flow by clicking cancel[5].
You will get a confirmation that your assessment has been successfully created[1]. By default you will land on the participants[2] page, from where you can invite candidates to the assessment. Click Invite[3] if you want to invite candidates.
You can go to details[4] tab to edit details such as:
The assessment name
Availability (Start and end time)
Pre-assessment message by using the Pre-Assessment Message text box. This message will be shown to participants both before and during the assessment.
You can also create a custom post-assessment message by using the Post-Assessment Message text box. This message will be shown to participants after they have completed the assessment.
If you go back to the home page, you will be able to find the newly created assessment in the events table.
