Play the Pac-Man Cybersecurity Game

Let’s look back at the iconic 1980s legendary maze video game Pac-Man. The game’s objective is to eat all of the dots placed in the maze while avoiding four ghosts, Inky the cyan ghost, Pinky as you may have guessed, the pink ghost, Blinky the red ghost, and let’s not leave out Clyde, the orange one.

All four ghosts have the same malicious goal in mind, and that is to bring Pac-Man down and prevent him from enjoying those delectable dots.

The player’s objective is to eat all the dots to move to the next level and achieve a high score (especially in the arcade version).

Pac-Man has four magic potions in each of the four corners of the closed maze; if Pac-Man consumes one of those potions, the ghosts all change to one color and become perplexed like, moving away from Pac-Man as opposed to pursuing him. Pac-Man now can eat the ghosts by simply pursuing them and reaching them successfully. The ingenious simplicity of this Japanese video game is what made it so popular with a permanent pop culture mark in history. Pac-Man has become a super celebrity in the gaming industry, starring in hundreds of games over the last four decades.

So how does Pac-Man relate to a virus scanner and cyber security in general or the title of this article? Well.. as surprising as it may sound, it relates in many intrinsic ways and could be an immense visualization tool for responsible or aspiring to be responsible cyber citizens.

The Cybersecurity Pac-Man Parallel

So you may be wondering how can this simple yet iconic arcade game from the 1980s help me in 2022 rev up my cyber security game. So imagine you are Pac-Man, and the dots are the content or services you need to consume on the internet. 

The ghosts are the hackers or cyber criminals looking to bring you down from an internet perspective. Similarly, the four ghosts in the game can be the malware you need to protect yourself from. The magic potion that makes the ghosts go away and even enables Pac-Man to eat can be analogous to any cyber security product such as a comprehensive cyber security suite for your endpoint devices, a VPN solution and a firewall.

The level and points gained in the arcade game including the high score, are analogous to the levels and score you will reach in your cyber security game.

The First Prudent Step

Let’s step aside from the fun analogies and point out the first prudent step to play an awesome cyber security game this 2022 and onward. This step is to search for free trials of comprehensive cyber security suites to protect your endpoint devices such as laptops and tablets.

Evaluate the product, and look for characteristics such as a UX – User Experience that you feel comfortable with. Ensure you are trying products from firms with a proven track record.

Once you reach a firm decision that you feel confident and comfortable using the product long-term, purchase the full version without delay for uninterrupted protection.