Army researchers have discovered what experienced information security teams already know: actual human interaction isn't a key to success when you already know your role on the team.
At the National Cyberwatch Center's Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition [MACCDC] in March and April 2017, the team of researchers decided to conduct a study observing the competing teams. The CyberDawgs of the University of Maryland Baltimore County won the MACCDC before going on to win the Nationals a few weeks later. And like the other top-performing teams in the event, researchers discovered the CyberDawgs were able to coordinate and collaborate most effectively without leaving their keyboards.
"Successful cyber teams don't need to discuss every detail when defending a network," said Dr. Norbou Buchler, Networked Systems Branch team leader at the US Army Research Laboratory, in a press release. "They already know what to do."
[...] The teams at the MACCDC were scored based on performance (both technical and human-focused tasks) during a simulated cyber-espionage campaign against a fictional Internet of Things middleware company. As the researchers explained in their paper, "The success of [the] teams is evaluated along three independent scoring dimensions: (a) Maintaining Services, (b) Incidence Response, and (c) Scenario Injects." The "scenario injects" included interaction with an event official role-playing as a corporate CEO. And using "sociometric badges" from Humanyze, Inc. worn by the participating teams—badges with built-in cameras that sensed faces—the researchers were able to measure the number of face-to-face interactions each team member had.
"Our results indicate that the leadership dimension and face-to-face interactions are important factors that determine the success of these teams," the researchers found. But while teams with strong leadership were more successful, "face-to-face interactions emerged as a strong negative predictor of success," the research team noted.
[...] This sort of finding may not come as much of a surprise to anyone who has ever participated in Capture the Flag or other team hacking and defense competitions—the only sound Ars heard during most of Defcon's 2017 CTF competition was the tapping of keyboards. The same is true for other tasks where teams have highly specialized roles—from the combat zone to the football field. Usually, if a situation reaches the point where social interaction is required to adjust activity, it means things have gone objectively wrong already.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @09:05AM
It was strange. It was just too strange. This result was unfathomable to a reasonable man like Hamitson. "Why is this happening?" the man said quizzically. What had he done to bring about this result, which always seemed to occur? The man began to ponder the matter more seriously.
The little girl was living and breathing. Hamitson found her cute, so he decided to mash his genitals together with hers while strangling her. Then, all of a sudden, she just stopped moving entirely, becoming the very embodiment of silence in the process. This wasn't the first time this had happened; it happened every time Hamitson played with a child, which was extremely frequently. Why? Why? Why!? Then, at last, the answer came to Hamitson.
It must be a fad. The new generation was simply strange and unorthodox. But even if Hamitson realized this, he had no idea why the youths of today would choose to be so fragile. As such, the man decided to stop pondering the matter, as it gave him a headache. Just as he decided this, he spotted something interesting and moved towards it faster than one would expect from such an obese man.
It was interesting indeed. Yes, another child for Hamitson to play with. Even though the new generation was strange, the man could not resist their allure; he needed to accept them, faults and all. So, he would play with it. And play with it he shall...
(Score: 4, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday April 29 2018, @09:24AM (5 children)
IT"S ALL ABOUT HANGING OUT WITH YOUR COWORKERS BY THE WATER COOLER!!!
THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO SUCCEED!!
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday April 29 2018, @10:17AM
Social Media has been tremendous for me. I'm very good at it. But I love a good rally. And all my rallies have been INCREDIBLE!!!!
(Score: 4, Informative) by KiloByte on Sunday April 29 2018, @10:44AM
The water cooler is great. The dead weight is chatting there, instead of where their noises would inconvenience you.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 3, Informative) by anubi on Sunday April 29 2018, @11:47AM
Yup... its called "Team Work".
Somewhere there will be some unseen little guys trying to impress them by doing the work.
The little guys will get the cucumber. The suit men around the water cooler get the grape for getting the little guys to do it for cheap.
Been there, seen it, was so disgusted he did not want the T-shirt.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @11:27PM (1 child)
You would know, MDC. SoylentNews is your water cooler where you hang out and shitpost about every little fucking detail of your life.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday April 30 2018, @05:40AM
Our customer service personnel will process your request in the order that it was received.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @10:51AM (4 children)
Concluding that the best cyberteams are non-social from behavior during the "game" is a stretch or even misleading.
Even in sports, when a top team is already "playing seriously" they shouldn't be having that much discussion, if they do it's also often a sign that stuff has gone wrong. The team members should know what they are supposed to do without saying much more than a few words or even any words.
But during training or during other events then they might be a lot more social.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Sunday April 29 2018, @11:48AM (2 children)
In order to get us to show our social side, you need to order pizza and beer.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:08PM (1 child)
Pizza and beer push me beyond non-social.
A good steak and accompanying wine, though, work wonders for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:17PM
It will for me too! But cheap donuts for showing up at 6AM wont do anything but piss me off.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 30 2018, @04:17PM
I think you underestimate how much social interaction is involved in playing team sports.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:02PM (6 children)
I was mentally berating the authors. A "team", by definition, has some social connections. "Antisocial" people might make social connections, for antisocial reasons. A "social" person is all about connections. I think that what they are looking for here, is either the word "asocial", and/or "an ability to put socializing on a back burner".
The phenomenon they are seeing here, is that whatever social needs the team members have are being subordinated to the needs of the mission. From experience, even very social people can do that. It's easier for less social people, of course, but anyone can do it. Just keep your mouth shut, until the mission is completed.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:13PM
I would not go as far as to say "anti" social.... but to me there are a helluva lot better things to do than sit around watching somebody hit a ball with a stick.
Especially if they asked me to pay to see it, pay to park, and pay for way overpriced beer and hot dogs.
Nor do I think noisy bars and nightclubs have much to offer me.
I'd rather be banging out a new PCB, or some software for it. No different than a musician would probably rather be thinking of his new musical composition or arrangement.
Now, here's the kicker... I can and will bore the living hell out of people, and they can and will bore the living hell out of me. A company who has the money to hire all these "leadership" types will have no use at all for someone like me... they don't need to make anything ... their need is to have their hand shaken by men wearing suits. And lots and lots of paper and signatures so they all look important to someone.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by rigrig on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:17PM (4 children)
But you can't put that in a headline, nobody would click it!
Researcher:
Research Laboratory:
Ars Technica:
SoylentNews:
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:26PM (2 children)
Nahh, we could use the seemingly most appropriate words.
"The best hacking teams are composed of asocial assholes." Problem with that is, many people would have to grab a dictionary to even learn what asocial means. The media, like people in general, only understand clickbait terms like "antisocial".
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Sunday April 29 2018, @01:01PM (1 child)
Analyzing posts. Looking up emoticon in emoji recognition database.
I have determined that Runaway1956 is antisocial* with 99.999% confidence.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday April 29 2018, @07:32PM
Thanks for this :) Yeah, Runaway takes pride in calling himself asocial, but as you've pointed out, his behavior is actually antisocial, not asocial. I wonder if he's just deluded, or if he's deliberately trying to use a euphemism to hide from others--and himself--what a worthless excuse of a human being he is...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday April 29 2018, @10:16PM
Me personally:
Hey, I can dream, can't I?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday April 29 2018, @01:31PM
For things that need doing that everyone knows about, the team should already know who will cover what: the best person for the job thing.
Exception, : Bob doesn't show up for work. Who will do his job? Some social aspect must be involved unless there is already someone who knows he/she will pick up Bob's slack.
Exceptional things may need socializing: common things should just be business as usual, best person for the job, "This is a Unix system. I know this.".
If you can't do this, your team is either still gelling (at this point, more socializing will be occurring but will lessen with experience and confidence in each others abilities/strengths/weaknesses) or is not really a team.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday April 30 2018, @04:39PM
They were counting "face to face" interactions. Were the teams allowed to use IM or other communications?
But aside from that, yeah if you have a single job or preset listing of duties and it is time irrelevant when it occurs, sure. You don't need social interaction. Uninteractive positions don't require interaction. Duh.
Most jobs which require a team to do, that are worth doing, aren't like that. That's quite aside from recognizing that people don't necessarily live to work.
This sig for rent.