Companies Use Cyber Ranges to Practice Security Skills
September 03 2019 - 5:10PM
Dow Jones News
By Adam Janofsky
Companies and universities around the country are building
cybersecurity training centers that simulate real-world networks
and breaches to train staff and test theories about how to guard
against and respond to attacks.
At these so-called cyber ranges, companies can assess how their
cybersecurity staff react to real-world scenarios, such as malware
infections and data breaches, said Ron Green, chief security
officer at Mastercard Inc.
"It's a great opportunity to create an environment where we can
go full-out," said Mr. Green. "We can put malware [and other tools]
that steal information from our network on it, and allow my team to
go in and fix the situation -- not in theory, but actually do
it."
Mastercard built a cyber range at its St. Louis tech hub in
2016, and created a mobile range the following year that allows the
company to perform tests and exercises around the country.
Mastercard used the mobile range -- essentially a server rack
outfitted in an armored box -- this summer for an annual cyber
defense exercise in Charlotte, N.C., with seven other financial
services firms. Cybersecurity staff attacked and defended simulated
computer networks, said Mr. Green, who leads about 650
cybersecurity experts and other staff.
Most businesses can't afford their own cyber range, which can
cost millions of dollars to build and operate, according to
cybersecurity experts. Cyber ranges at universities, including
Virginia Tech, the University of Maine at Augusta and Miami Dade
College, offer small businesses an opportunity to train and test
defenses. Many ranges operate in the cloud, with tools used
remotely.
Security professionals at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami
Beach, Fla., recently participated in a ransomware exercise on the
cyber range at Miami Dade College, which was launched last year in
partnership with Cyberbit, a division of Israeli defense company
Elbit Systems Ltd.
Ransomware attacks on businesses more than doubled in the first
quarter of 2019 from a year earlier, according to a May report from
insurer Beazley PLC. For Mount Sinai, the practice session was "a
valuable opportunity to sharpen our response to this kind of
event," a spokeswoman said in an email.
Virginia Tech sees its range, which opened in 2016 with $4
million in funding from the state, as a source of revenue. The
university announced in July that it will rent its range to
businesses and out-of-state schools. For about $20 per user per
month, customers can remotely use its virtual environment and
software, said Dr. David Raymond, the range's director.
The range offers lessons in applied cryptography, fighting
common cyber threats, such as distributed denial-of-service
attacks, and other topics. About 5,000 students and faculty from
more than 200 high schools, community colleges and universities in
Virginia have trained on the range so far, Dr. Raymond said.
The University of Maine at Augusta also wants to sign up
customers, including small businesses and municipalities, to
practice on its range, said Henry Felch, an associate professor of
cybersecurity and computer information systems. The university
opened its range last month in a ribbon-cutting ceremony with U.S.
Sen. Angus King of Maine.
For Mastercard, renting someone else's range would have limited
the kind of exercises it could do, Mr. Green said. He wants the
ability to conduct both offensive and defensive drills without
worrying about potential damage to systems at a host range.
"On some of these ranges you only get to use the equivalent of a
little .22-caliber gun," he said. "On our range, we can fire
antitank rounds -- we can do whatever we want -- because we own
this environment and if we break something it's on us."
Write to Adam Janofsky at adam.janofsky@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 03, 2019 16:55 ET (20:55 GMT)
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