Autodesk achieves 60% learning growth with HTB

Their story

Since being founded in 1982, Autodesk has helped more than 100 million people design and make a better world. The company offers cloud-connected software products used across a diverse set of businesses including engineering, media and entertainment, product design, manufacturing, and more. Its products unite and empower creators through a common data experience while allowing them to solve critical business, design, and environmental challenges.

To continue enabling organizations around the world to design and simulate their ideas in 3D, Autodesk employs more than 14,000 individuals located in 47 different countries. And with such a strong emphasis on innovation and collaboration for their customers, Autodesk maintains the same values when it comes to their employees.

Their goal

One way Autodesk is increasing organizational collaboration is by hosting annual “Defender Days” events for its security teams during Cybersecurity Awareness month in October. During Defender Days, various activities are hosted including keynote speaking engagements, lightning talks, and Capture The Flag (CTF) events.

These efforts are led by Matthew Wilder, Principal Trust Training & Awareness Manager and Rachel Skywalker, Senior Manager of Training and Awareness Programs, Platform Services, and Emerging Technologies. As part of their responsibilities, Matt and Rachel manage the training and awareness efforts for the entire organization in addition to maintaining the core technical tenets of Autodesk's commitment to customer trust through security, privacy, compliance, and resiliency.

When speaking about organizing Defender Days events and the important role they play in fostering a culture of trust, Matt said “People really had an appetite for CTFs. It’s a friendly competition that stimulates a productive work environment, and by observing how employees tackle these exercises, we can identify those with exceptional skills that could be further developed and we can also spot areas where additional training may be necessary.”

Adding to Matt’s comments, Rachel stressed the importance of having events that can support Autodesk’s global employee base: “We’re increasingly working in a virtual world, and this is such an interactive and engaging way for people to learn something new. It also helps people collaborate and do team building, or maybe meet new people they hadn’t met before in the company.”

After some thorough research into CTF events and vendors, Matt and Rachel were able to find a standout solution that closely aligned with their business objectives. “When we were planning our Defender Days, we knew we wanted to bring in a CTF vendor and HTB hit on all the points we were looking for,” Matt said. “Because HTB focuses on building problem-solving skills, it fosters collaboration and improves communication among employees while giving us a chance to provide our developers and engineers with the opportunity to have fun and work together on joint team missions.”

Their solution

While preparing for their first Defender Days HTB CTF event, Matt and Rachel knew that in order for it to be a success, they had to focus on internal education and didn’t waste any time spreading the word.

They started by sending out calendar invites to interested participants, setting up dedicated Slack channels, creating SharePoint pages with registration information, FAQs, and links to HTB CTF resources, in addition to attending in-person events to promote the CTF. But what Matt and Rachel think really helped generate excitement was getting early support from Autodesk’s senior leadership.

“From our leadership, we had a lot of buy-in from their own participation and hosting their own talk tracks,” Matt said. “When you’re able to see leadership is involved in the greater team with the events that are happening, it all comes together that this is something to look forward to.”

As a result of the advanced planning and awareness, more than 130 people joined the Defender Days CTF, which included a diverse range of skill sets and job roles including Senior Principal Security Developers, Software Engineers, Cloud Solutions Architects, Threat Hunters, and more.

Because this was the first HTB CTF they hosted, and one that would include participants with varying levels of knowledge, Matt knew there would be questions along the way but found the support from HTB made a huge difference in the process.

“Having the support that HTB provides is essential when we’re doing our day jobs on top of also promoting a corporate-wide series of events,” Matt said. “Whenever we needed something, when we had a question, support was always there for us so it took a lot of burden off our plates and day-to-day responsibilities.”

Their success

After hosting their first HTB CTF, the Autodesk team was thrilled with how well it was received. “Through all of our Defender Days events, we had the most feedback referencing the HTB CTF and that they wanted more of it,” Rachel said. “People just really enjoyed it overall.”  

Their post-event survey also revealed:

• More than 90% of players would like to see CTF events throughout the year

• Over two-thirds of participants learned something new during the event

• Nearly 85% of players enjoyed participating in the CTF

In addition to the event being fun and collaborative for the participants, Matt highlighted the importance of training events in today’s digital landscape:

“Providing teams with training and upskilling opportunities is crucial for any organization to stay current with best practices in all aspects of security, privacy, and awareness.”

He went on to add, “From a compliance and risk management perspective, regular training can ensure that Autodesk teams are aware of various security requirements and best practices, strengthening company security practices.”

Based on the success of their first event, Matt and Rachel are already looking ahead to future CTF events with the goal of hosting more than one each year. “We viewed this one as a baseline, but just the sheer number of people who responded to the survey and gave their feedback, and the enthusiasm people had around it, was really encouraging to continue with this,” Rachel said.

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Products Used

HTB Capture The Flag Competitions

• Customizable, fun-fueled tabletop exercises for hands-on skill development

• Realistic challenges to improve identification and mitigation of security issues

• Team building activities to foster collaboration among participants

• Enhance problem-solving skills and ability to think creatively

About Hack The Box

Hack The Box is the Cyber Performance Center with the mission to provide a human-first platform to create and maintain high-performing cybersecurity individuals and organizations. Hack The Box is the only platform that unites upskilling, workforce development, and the human focus in the cybersecurity industry, and it’s trusted by organizations worldwide for driving their teams to peak performance.

Offering an all-in-one environment for continuous growth, assessment, and recruitment, Hack The Box provides solutions for all cybersecurity domains. Launched in 2017, Hack The Box brings together the largest global cybersecurity community of more than 2.8 million platform members. Rapidly growing its international footprint and reach, Hack The Box is headquartered in the UK, with additional offices in the US, Australia, and Greece.

For more information, please visit hackthebox.com.