Overview
Cyber simulator allows assessment to the security and business leaders in order response properly to an attack in an interactive environment. Attention is needed to be taken care of media relations, team communications, technical processes and business risks. The modified and advanced cyber-attacks are ever increasing, which is why organizations now thinking to test their systems and assess their risks to deal with the threats. Simulation is growing as it allows the testing and assessing of cybersecurity, because it allows modeling cyber systems, their interdependencies, and interactions between cyber systems and the users, policing, and even attacking these systems.
A cyber range is a virtual environment that can be used for cyber warfare training and software development. These environments allow practicing handling specific real-world scenarios, train employees and customers on the latest threats. It is specially being used by the military and government agencies, Private Corporation’s .It helps the organizations to automate and simulate the entire incident response process.
Cyber simulation models:
Standalone model integration:
It is basically very high fidelity network model. These environments are being used to evaluate policies in existing networks, prototype new networks, and train staff members in a sand-boxed environment. Here synthetic users, attackers, and defenders have been embedded in such environments to have a higher fidelity and, ultimately, accuracy.
Modeling a network:
There are three different types of modeling a network.
The first one is simple replication. In this approach the existing network is being duplicated. In this approach all hardware and software elements of the network is being replicated, makes it the best fidelity of modeling, as the test environment. But it has some draw backs.
High cost.
High time consumption.
Pure simulation:
This is being used for purely simulated network. Some examples of the simulator, such as ns-3, Opnet , and Qualnet. Here ns-3 is known for being an open source. Pure simulation does not suffer from the time overhead, since it is entirely software based. But it can’t model real payloads. Here the data has been generated from an assumed distribution.
Hybrid network emulation:
Here both the software and network are being modeled. The computer hardware is abstracted by using standard machine virtualization techniques. The network is abstracted with a network simulator such as ns-3.
Tools involved:
TopGen
It is a virtualized application-service simulator for offline exercise and training networks.
GreyBox
It acts as a virtual machine that provides a self-contained emulation of the Internet backbone.
Ghosts
It is used for automating and orchestrating non-player character activities. It creates “synthetic users” that allows advanced user-activity simulation that makes the cyber exercises more realistic.
vTunnel
It allows tunneling of IP traffic from a guest virtual machine through the hypervisor .
Welle-D
Wireless Emulation Link Layer Exchanges Daemon (WELLE-D), enables integration of virtual wireless networks into the existing cyber range.
TopoMojo
It is a web application that simplifies virtual lab creation and deployment. It is a Linux-based virtual appliance jump that creates virtual-machine learning environments. It includes the use of existing network topologies from a topology library. TopoMojo simplifies the setup of exercises.
Infection Monkey
Infection Monkey is an open-source tool. It can be installed on Windows, Debian, and Docker. It offers non-intrusive attack simulation. In this process the CPU and Memory footprints are low.
NeSSi2 (Network Security Simulator)
It is also an open-source tool. NeSSi stands for Network Security Simulator. It tests intrusion detection algorithms, network analysis, profile-based automated attacks, etc.
Caldera
This emulation tool supports only the Windows Domain network, and leverages the ATT&CK model to test and replicate the behavior.
Foreseeti
This lets you virtually attack your infrastructure to assess and manage the risk exposure.
Scythe
It has got a powerful and easy-to-use workflow to create and launch a real-world cyber threat campaign.
XM Cyber
It offers automated advanced persistent threat (APT) simulation solution
Randori
It is a reliable, automated cyber-attack platform for testing security systems’ effectiveness in preventing attacks. It assesses the entire security solutions to identifying weaknesses.
Picus
It is a security and risk management solution that enables one to continuously assess, measure, and mitigate vulnerabilities.
Cyber range
Increasing and evaluation of cyber crime, offers few opportunities for such training on the job. This is where cyber range is having a solution. It is a controlled, interactive technology environment the cyber security professionals can learn how to detect and mitigate cyber attacks in real time. This contains learning management components (A “Learning Management System,” or LMS).
Cyber ranges features:
Range learning management system (LMS):
It enables the range administrator to control training and monitor learning objectives. It conducts the set up and control exercises, manages teams, and generates reporting on trainee progress.
Realistic training environment:
A lot of cyber ranges offers a realistic training environment. That may contain actual hardware and software or may be a combination of actual and virtual components.
Some of them are completely hardware-based. These are either on-premises or cloud-based.
Curriculum:
It provides some pre-packaged curriculum that includes a certain amount of predefined exercises and testing.
Gamification :
This approach not only increases user engagement but also improving knowledge.
Reporting:
It contains a variety of reporting and metrics tools. These reports can be a crucial factor for calculating the ROI.
Advantages of Cyber Range Solutions:
Evaluating and preventing real-world threats in a safe environment
It allows the user to experience real-world threats in a safe virtual environment.
Learning to recognize and handle threats
The user can learn in this environment how to identify potential threats, and they will know how to deal with them, by getting training against them.
Validating the proof of concepts (POCs)
It is used to validate virtual POCs.
Save your business time and money
These are a cost-effective and easy to deploy with less capital expenditure by one time set up.
It is always up to date
It is always up to date and ready to help the organization to test against all possible threats.
Helps to train the employees and customers
Being accessible from anywhere makes it a great option for keeping your employees and customers trained, certified, and moreover prepared to deal with cybersecurity threats.
Dynamic scaling up
As it is a virtual environment, one only needs pay for the required resources.
Application:
Gaming sector
Business organization
