The Interactive Ransomware Simulation Game
Open the game- Brand
- Kaspersky
- Year
- 2024
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Simulation & Strategy
- Platform
- Web
Objective
Kaspersky needed to sell IT and security decision-makers at small and mid-size companies on its EDR line (Kaspersky EDR for business, Optimal tier) by making ransomware's business risk concrete rather than abstract, and by drawing a clear line between reactive EPP tools and proactive EDR. The case leaned on the trend line itself: ransomware gangs were up 30% and victims up 70% year over year, so the pitch had to land as a felt risk, not a bullet point.
Solution
One button, "Play now!", drops you into a live-action story: it's your first day as a security specialist at a mid-size electronics retailer, and before the day is out you're staring down a ransomware attack. Scenes play out like footage, then cut to a decision — escalate to management or handle it yourself, what to isolate, what to block, where to restore from — and several of those choices are timed, so you're deciding under pressure rather than at leisure. Your calls branch the story toward different endings, from a network you saved to one that got fully encrypted. At the end you get a breakdown of the decisions you made, can replay the scenario with different choices, and can browse a Project/Product/FAQ section next to the game that shows the actual product behind the "right" calls.
- 1
The Interactive Ransomware Simulation Game opens on a landing page with its title, a short premise, and a single "Play now!" button; the header carries Play, Project, Product and FAQ links plus a switcher for six languages (English, Russian, Turkish, French, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese).
- 2
A live-action video scene sets the premise: the player is a new IT security specialist on their first shift at a mid-size consumer-electronics retailer, and signs that the company is already under a ransomware attack surface almost immediately.
- 3
The core loop is a branching interactive film: video scenes pause for choices that route the story through the stages of an incident response, from escalating to management or investigating alone, through triage and deciding whether to isolate suspicious hosts, blocking malicious processes, network connections and accounts, judging and containing lateral movement by segmenting the network, restoring priority business services from backup, to notifying leadership and logging the incident.
- 4
Some of these choices are timed quick-time events: the scene keeps rolling if the player hesitates, and inaction counts as a choice that shapes the branching outcome.
- 5
The ending depends on the sequence of choices made: the company either stops the ransomware or has its infrastructure encrypted, and a closing debrief screen scores the player's readiness, lists the mistakes made, and recommends processes and preventive measures.
- 6
Players can replay the scenario with different choices to improve their outcome, and can browse Project, Product and FAQ sections that cover Kaspersky EDR and how it differs from EPP.
