According to a recent study, teamwork is not a critical ingredient when it comes to employing the most successful and efficient cybersecurity teams.

In fact, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, the Army Research Laboratory and the National Cyberwatch Center determined that the opposite was true with the most efficient cyber security teams working in limited contact with both teammates and leaders alike.

"Successful cyber teams don't need to discuss every detail when defending a network; they already know what to do," said Dr. Norbou E. Buchler, team leader with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Cyber and Networked Systems branch.

To make such a determination, researchers worked in teams during the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MACCDC), collecting data concerning face-to-face interactions and questionnaires that touched on topics such as communication and collaboration, task distribution, leadership style and team meetings.

“We collected data from wearable social sensors to assess face-to-face interactions and using a 16-point teamwork instrument called OAT (Observational Assessment of Teamwork) to assess teamwork and leadership behaviors in cyber defense. Importantly, this being a cyber defense competition, the success of these teams is evaluated along three independent scoring dimensions: (a) Maintaining Services, (b) Incidence Response and (c) Scenario Injects,” said the study's authors.

Based on the data collected, researchers discovered that face-to-face interactions were a roadblock to success.

"In other words, the teams whose members interacted less during the exercise, were usually more successful," Buchler explained.

"These results are important because current training programs commonly emphasize cybersecurity knowledge and do not provide training on effective team management," he added.

The study, called "Sociometrics and observational assessment of teaming and leadership in a cybersecurity defense competition,” is published in the Journal of Computers & Security.