Advanced Tools for Cyber Ranges

In response to the growing number and variety of cyber threats, the government, military, and industry are widely employing network emulation environments for cyber capability testing and cyber warfare training. These “cyber ranges” have been increasing in size and complexity to model the high-volume network traffic and sophisticated attacks seen on the Internet today. For cyber ranges to operate effectively and efficiently, organizations need tools to automate range operations, increase the fidelity of emulated network traffic, and visualize range activity. Lincoln Laboratory has developed a variety of such tools. » With the recent high-profile cyber attacks on government agencies, such as the U.S. Office of Personnel Management [1], and on companies, including Target, Home Depot, and Sony [2], the dangers of cyber attacks have gained national prominence. Cyber attacks threaten not only the security of personal data but also the national critical infrastructure, for example, power grids and transportation systems [3]. To mitigate the cyber threat, researchers are actively developing cyber defense tools. Before these tools can be deployed in corporate or military networks, they must be tested and validated in realistic environments. Simple tests conducted on developers’ computers are insufficient because these tests do not have the required level of realism. Needed are high-fidelity, surrogate networks (i.e., cyber ranges) in which we can introduce attackers, defenders, and defensive and offensive capabilities, and measure the performance of these capabilities in the hands of skilled network defenders pitted against realistic adversaries. To help create and operate these cyber ranges, tools are needed to (1) automate the configuration and generation of complex network environments; (2) create high-fidelity emulated user traffic on these networks; and (3) effectively operate and visualize the rich traffic environment being executed on the range during an event, i.e., a scenario to test capabilities or train personnel.