Key facts
- The FBI has built a 22,000-square-foot replica town called the Kinetic Cyber Range in Huntsville, Alabama.
The FBI has constructed a 22,000-square-foot replica town in Huntsville, Alabama, to train law enforcement in investigating simulated cyberattacks. The facility, named the Kinetic Cyber Range, aims to provide hands-on experience with current technologies and their vulnerabilities in a secure environment.
The FBI's investment in a realistic cyberattack simulation environment underscores the escalating threat of cybercrime and the need for advanced, hands-on training for law enforcement to combat sophisticated digital threats effectively.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has unveiled a 22,000-square-foot replica town on its Huntsville, Alabama campus, designed to train law enforcement in simulating and investigating real-world cyberattacks. Named the Kinetic Cyber Range, the facility opened in February 2025 and aims to provide investigators with hands-on experience in a secure environment.
The purpose-built town mimics a U.S. community with furnished houses, a hotel, a gas station, a courthouse, a hospital, and a power company, all equipped with functioning devices and systems. This setup allows for the simulation of various cyber threats, including ransomware attacks, and their potential consequences on critical infrastructure and public services.
Accompanying the town is a data center housing over 200 physical servers running both Windows and Linux, reflecting typical corporate environments encountered during breach investigations. The range also focuses on digital forensics, training investigators to extract data from encrypted devices, a practice that sometimes involves exploiting undisclosed vulnerabilities.
Since its inception, the Kinetic Cyber Range has trained more than 1,400 students from the FBI and other federal and local agencies. This initiative comes as cybercrime losses in the U.S. reached a record $20.9 billion in 2025, marking a 26% increase from the previous year, with ransomware identified as the top threat to critical infrastructure.
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