// op_001 — case study Live
CyberCore Academy
// the problem
Security awareness training at most organizations is a once-a-year checkbox exercise — employees click through slides, pass a quiz they can retake until they score 100%, and forget everything by next quarter. There was no engaging, sticky platform that rewarded progression and built actual cybersecurity intuition. Compliance training had a retention problem, not a content problem.
// architecture decisions
Frontend
React 19 — required for complex decision-tree simulation state and real-time XP animations. Component state would have become unmanageable at this interaction depth with a lighter approach.
Database
SQLite over Postgres — Railway's single-instance deploy pattern keeps infrastructure cost-free at current scale. No replication needed, no ops overhead. Migrate path is clean when the time comes.
Payments
Stripe direct integration — no billing platform abstraction. Webhook-driven subscription lifecycle with a full audit trail. Keeps pricing logic in one place and subscription state is the source of truth.
Gamification
XP/leveling built as a separate scoring engine, fully decoupled from learning content. Badge logic and module logic evolve independently — adding a new badge type doesn't touch training code.
// by the numbers
77
Training Modules
46
Earnable Badges
3
Compliance Frameworks
// key outcomes
Decision-tree simulations place users inside real attack scenarios — phishing attempts, social engineering calls, insider threat decisions — and branch based on their choices, not just correct/wrong. The admin panel gives organizations cohort management, completion tracking, and per-user progress reports. Enterprise edition adds SOC 2, NIST CSF, and HIPAA compliance mapping for regulated industries, turning training completions into audit evidence.
// have an app to harden?
Products with accounts, billing, admin panels, and compliance expectations need a security path that is understandable before launch. The Application Security Snapshot turns that surface into a prioritized fix plan.
// related builds