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NICE FRAMEWORK SUCCESS STORY 

Social Engineering Competitions

The CARE Lab, Temple University

Cybersecurity Education and Evaluation

The voluntary Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity (NICE Framework) was developed through 

a collaborative process by industry, academia, and government stakeholders. It establishes a 

taxonomy and common lexicon that describes cybersecurity work and is intended for use in both 

the public and private sectors. NIST does not validate or endorse any individual organization or its 

approach to using the NICE Framework. 

ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE 

Cyberspace is fundamental to our national 

prosperity, as it is critical to economy, government, 

and day-to-day societal functioning. The 

Cybersecurity in Application, Research, and 

Education (CARE) Lab offers a social science 

approach to cybersecurity and seeks to foster a 

multidisciplinary dialog between academia, industry, 

nonprofits, and government. This intersectionality 

enables a creative, unique, and holistic means of 

understanding the phenomena of cyberattacks and 

cybersecurity. Additionally, the CARE Lab offers free 

course projects and datasets for download that can 

be (and have been) used by students, educators, and 

industry and government representatives across 

multiple sectors. Our research and education 

projects have been funded by several National 

Science Foundation grants. The CARE Lab is 

committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) 

efforts and embraces the “cybersecurity is for 

everyone” mindset.

WHY WE USE THE NICE FRAMEWORK

The NICE Framework offers a consistent and wellrecognized taxonomy. The statements that serve as 

the building blocks of the framework help the CARE 

Lab effectively communicate the relevance of social 

engineering (SE) to academia, industry, and 

government. 

PROJECT DRIVERS

The CARE Lab aimed to emphasize the relevance of 

the human behavior and socio-psychological factors 

in cyberattacks. We determined that the most 

effective way to do so would be via competitions 

that highlight scenarios that emulate how 

cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging SE in their 

attacks. We turned to the NICE Framework to serve

as a foundation for these efforts, in support of 

the following goals: 

• To develop a strong academic-industrygovernment-nonprofit nexus that brings in

realistic and different cybersecurity

perspectives to enhance student learning

experiences.

• To promote DEI by making our SE

competitions accessible to students from

underrepresented communities and provide

a safe, ethical, cost-effective, and fun

learning experience.

• To promote a non-technical way of thinking

about cyberattacks and cybersecurity that is

inclusive of all disciplines, skills, and

education levels.

“Since the ‘human factor’, ultimately, is the 

root cause of most security breaches within an 

organization, we are fascinated with what we 

believe is an ever-evolving area of the 

cybersecurity world. We hope to further 

explore the connections between ... 

psychology ... and the impact it has ... on 

cybersecurity"

2021 Social Engineering Event

Competing Team

PROCESS

1. The CARE Lab conducted an initial

mapping of various classroom SE projects

to the NICE Framework Knowledge, Skill,

and Ability (KSA) statements.
 

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NICE FRAMEWORK SUCCESS STORY 

Social Engineering Competitions, The CARE Lab

2. The course project mapping process was

reviewed and fine-tuned over the course of

several semesters to ensure consistent mapping.

3. The refined mapping process was then scaled

up to apply to two (inter)national SE

competitions: the Summer Social Engineering

Event and the Collegiate Social Engineering

Capture-the-Flag (SECTF) competition. The

mapping process informed the competitions’

design, components, and structure.

4. Finally, the CARE Lab created a feedback loop

where competition participants are surveyed

about the various KSA components to

understand whether these are truly being

captured in the competitions.

BENEFITS & IMPACT

• The detailed taxonomy of roles and KSAs of the

NICE Framework have allowed the CARE Lab to

bring SE into mainstream cybersecurity

education conversations.

• The NICE Framework has helped the CARE Lab

solidify its message to non-technical students

that not all cybersecurity careers require

technological skills; having a different (nontechnical) disciplinary background is a strength

and not a weakness.

• The NICE Framework has helped the CARE Lab

develop pre- and post-competition surveys that

provide metrics on student learning specific to

KSAs.

Figure 1: Winners of the 2021 Social Engineering Pen Testing 

Competition

CONTACT INFORMATION & RESOURCES

Contact:

Aunshul Rege, Director of the CARE Lab

rege@temple.edu

Websites:

sites.temple.edu/care

 sites.temple.edu/socialengineering

sites.temple.edu/collegiatesectf

January 2022

NICE Framework Website: nist.gov/nice/framework 

Contact Us: niceframework@nist.gov