The FBI last year launched a Cyber Range in Huntsville, Alabama, designed to simulate cyberattacks in a realistic setting. It’s essentially a digital-age counterpart to the well-known Hogan’s Alley, built for training against today’s cyber threats. Spanning 22,000 square feet, the site mirrors a small town, featuring a convenience store, gas station, hospital, and fully outfitted homes.
The complex serves as a controlled environment where agents and researchers can recreate real-world cyber incidents for both instruction and analysis. Each building and system is connected much like it would be in an actual community. The site also includes a compact data center housing more than 200 servers that can be breached, infected with malware, and examined. Crucially, the entire mock town is isolated from the internet and outside networks, ensuring malicious software cannot escape the facility.
At the Cyber Range, trainees conduct forensic investigations involving vehicle infotainment systems, hospital IT infrastructure, and corporate security networks. They can also study how cyberattacks could disrupt electrical grids or move through residential internet setups.
Although the Cyber Range began operating last year, the FBI only this week released a video offering the public its first look inside the facility.
