Capital Region Advanced Cyber Range (CRACR)

The initial stages of CRACR development were aligned with The Michigan Cyber Range (MCR) in order to utilize their visualization environment called Alphaville. 

Above: Original CRACR architecture combining the Michigan Cyber Range with the substrate built on top GW’s Multi Service Exchange (MSX) framework.

After realizing that MCR’s APIs could not support our usage models, CRACR was decoupled from MCR and all the technology, courses and content were developed in-house. In 2018, CRACR was incorporated into the curriculum of the Cyber Academy. 

CRACR has supported seven semesters of classroom instructions. It has delivered hands-on experience to nearly a hundred of students in three graduating classes. Attack Tools and Techniques (PSCS 4202), Securing Operating Systems (PSCS 4103), and IT Security Defense Countermeasures (PSCS 3113) were developed, operationalized and are being offered as a part of the Cybersecurity curriculum.

Above: A synthetic student portal corresponding to a particular cybersecurity exercise. Each portal is generated on-demand before the exercise starts and is accessible from the classroom workstations or over a VPN connection from anywhere. The portal also provides an individualized scoreboard informing the students about their progress. (Below)

Above: The Final Exam of the Attack Tools & Technique class.