FBI's Kinetic Cyber Range: A Replica Town for Simulating Cyberattacks

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been keeping a secret. On its Huntsville, Alabama campus, the FBI has built a 22,000 square-foot replica town called the Kinetic Cyber Range. The aim is to teach investigators in a secure environment beyond the classroom by getting hands-on with some of the latest consumer and enterprise technologies, many of which are frequently targeted by malicious hackers.

The numbers put the training into context. The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report, drawing on more than one million complaints, logged a record $20.9 billion in U.S. cybercrime losses, a 26% jump over the prior year, with ransomware ranked the top ongoing threat to critical infrastructure.

The Kinetic Cyber Range is a fully functional town with functioning devices and systems that behave as they would in a real community or business, while preventing any simulated attacks from spilling out of the facility. It features fully furnished houses, a hotel, a gas station and grocery mart, a courthouse, a hospital, and a power company — complete with roads and traffic lights — designed to mimic a real U.S. community.

Each part of the town is wired with functioning devices and systems that behave as they would in a real community or business, while preventing any simulated attacks from spilling out of the facility.

Image Credits:FBI / YouTube

"They're cold, they're cramped, they're noisy, they're dark, they're miserable," Dave Beachboard, the range's program manager, explains in the FBI's write-up about the training environment.

The range also includes a data center with more than 200 physical servers — some running Windows, some Linux — reflecting the corporate environments investigators are likely to encounter when responding to a breach or executing a search warrant.

The replica town allows the FBI to simulate ransomware attacks and their real-world consequences, including the high-pressure decisions that investigators must make when responding to incidents that could cause harm to people, such as hospital systems going dark.

The Kinetic Cyber Range also helps to train U.S. investigators in digital forensics, which police use to crack the cybersecurity defenses of encrypted modern devices to extract data from devices, often for the purposes of building a criminal investigation. The tools used for this are controversial as they work by exploiting vulnerabilities that are never disclosed to the device maker, such as Apple or Google, to defeat the protections those companies build in for their users.

With the Kinetic Cyber Range, the FBI is taking a significant step forward in its efforts to combat cybercrime and protect the nation's critical infrastructure.

Key Features of the Kinetic Cyber Range

• A 22,000 square-foot replica town with fully furnished houses, a hotel, a gas station and grocery mart, a courthouse, a hospital, and a power company
• Functioning devices and systems that behave as they would in a real community or business
• A data center with more than 200 physical servers, some running Windows, some Linux
• The ability to simulate ransomware attacks and their real-world consequences
• Training in digital forensics, including the use of controversial tools to extract data from encrypted devices

Conclusion

The Kinetic Cyber Range is a game-changer in the fight against cybercrime. By providing a secure and realistic environment for investigators to train in, the FBI is better equipped to combat the ever-evolving threats of the cyber world. As the FBI continues to expand and improve the Kinetic Cyber Range, we can expect to see a significant impact on the nation's cybersecurity landscape.