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Awareness and human factors are becoming ever more important in cybersecurity, particularly in the context of small companies that may need more resources to deal with cybersecurity effectively. This paper introduces a theoretical framework for game analysis of the role of awareness in strategic interactions between the manager and a hacker. A computable approach is proposed based on Bayesian updating to model awareness in a cybersecurity context. The process of gaining awareness considers the manager’s perception of the properties of the hacker’s actions, game history, and common knowledge. The role of awareness in strategy choices and outcomes is analyzed and simulated, providing insights into decision-making processes for managers and highlighting the need to consider probabilistic assessments of threats and the effectiveness of countermeasures. The accuracy of the initial frequencies plays a significant role in the manager’s success, with aligned frequencies leading to optimal results. Inaccurate information on prior frequencies still outperforms complete uncertainty, emphasizing the value of any available intelligence. However, the results suggest that other awareness modeling approaches are necessary to enhance the manager’s agility and adaptiveness when the prior frequencies do not reflect the immediate attacker’s type, indicating the need for improved intelligence about cyber-attacks and examinations of different awareness modeling approaches.

This paper deals with one of the possible methodological approaches to an empirical examination of game awareness. Such an outline should enable the gathering of a deeper understanding of individuals’ awareness. The questionnaire is based on a scenario technique, and it is focused on game awareness in situations with possible strategic interactions. The goal is to assess the instrument regarding its reliability and validity. Internal reliability is assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. A k-nn analysis was used to estimate divergent construct validity and criterion validity, and nonparametric factor analysis was used to estimate convergent construct validity. The questionnaire satisfies the requirements of reliability and validity. Moreover, there is an indication that each of the eight scenarios may be used separately, as they also meet the criteria for reliability and validity. Possible practical and theoretical implications involve questionnaire use as a basis for educational intervention, other instruments’ development, as well as for the collection and publication of behavioral insights about game awareness. Behavioral insights should enrich the theory and incite behavioral game theory models of game awareness and its implications.

In everyday life, games begin inconspicuously, leaving an individual to stumble upon their assessment of a situation. An unaware individual is unlikely to exhibit strategic behavior in a given situation, which highlights the importance of awareness examination. The purpose of this exploratory analysis is to examine awareness and assessment of a game’s existence at the individual level. That requires examination of respondents’ detection (as an indication of their awareness) and identification (as an indication of their assessment) of game elements in game-like situations and their relation to awareness of the game existence. The empirical data is collected using a scenario technique and is statistically analyzed. The results show that the respondents are, on average, at least partially aware of possibility for strategic interaction (even in vague situations). The revealed regularities point out to the relation of the game elements to game existence belief, but also indicate the presence of psychological biases and information utilization issues. For example, the respondents assign different levels of belief to game existence regarding possible losses or gains. Research limitations involve the use of a small convenience sample and lead to suggestions for results validation in future research. Possible implications of the results are discussed.