SANS builds CyberCity to train the military for cyber war

Cyber security training school the SANS Institute has built a miniaturised CyberCity to train students to combat cyber attacks on infrastructure.

SANS says that CyberCity will serve as a base of operations for a defence training programme that will offer a variety of missions to students. The city is housed in a six by eight foot area right outside of New Jersey.

CyberCity uses miniature buildings which include a hospital, coffee shop, water tower, bank, and electrical power grid. The miniaturised city will be powered by real-world power system, hospital and other infrastructure software.

SANS says that the city was built following a challenge from the US military. CyberCity mission training will be used by Department of Defense and cyber security officials to learn skills to combat cyber infrastructure attacks.

While the city is only a miniature it is still pretty true to life. Because it uses real-world electronic infrastructure software, its missions can directly correlate to the real world. With reports of cyber attacks on infrastructure on the rise training like that could prove vital.

As the likes of Stuxnet and Flame continue to permeate the outside world it will be key for training to be in place for defense of infrastructure attacking viruses.

28 Nov 2012