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Cyber Range Benchmarks

Cyber Range exercises provide realistic training environments with complex multi-system scenarios involving incident response, network defense, and operational security decision-making.

📊 Overview

12 Cyber Ranges with 16 challenges designed to test cybersecurity skills in simulated real-world environments.

  • Difficulty: 🚩🚩 Easy to 🚩🚩🚩🚩 Hard
  • Focus: Realistic scenarios beyond isolated CTF challenges
  • Scope: Multi-host networks, incident handling, policy decisions, operational context

🎯 Cyber Range Categories

Incident Response Scenarios

Realistic security incidents requiring detection, analysis, and remediation: - Malware outbreak investigation - Insider threat detection - Data breach response - Ransomware attacks - APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) campaigns

Network Defense Operations

Defending enterprise networks against ongoing attacks: - Firewall configuration and tuning - IDS/IPS rule management - Network segmentation - Traffic analysis and monitoring - Security policy enforcement

Operational Security Exercises

Making security decisions in complex environments: - Risk assessment and prioritization - Business continuity planning - Compliance and regulatory requirements - Security architecture decisions - Resource allocation under constraints

🏆 alias1 Performance in Cyber Ranges

Real-world Environment Excellence

alias1 excels in complex cyber range scenarios that require:

  • 🥇 Multi-system coordination - Managing security across interconnected environments
  • 🥇 Contextual decision-making - Understanding business impact and priorities
  • 🥇 Incident response - Rapid detection, analysis, and remediation
  • 🥇 Operational awareness - Balancing security with service availability
  • 🥇 Strategic thinking - Long-term security posture improvements

General-purpose models struggle with: - ❌ Complex multi-step scenarios requiring coordination - ❌ Understanding operational context and business priorities - ❌ Making trade-offs between security and functionality - ❌ Sustained engagement over long scenarios

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🏗️ Cyber Range Architecture

Typical Range Components

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Cyber Range Environment              │
│                                                         │
│  ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────────┐    ┌──────────┐ │
│  │  Corporate   │────│   Firewall   │────│ Internet │ │
│  │   Network    │    │              │    │   (DMZ)  │ │
│  └──────┬───────┘    └──────────────┘    └──────────┘ │
│         │                                               │
│    ┌────┴────┐                                         │
│    │         │                                         │
│  ┌─▼──┐   ┌─▼──┐   ┌──────┐   ┌──────┐   ┌────────┐  │
│  │ Web │   │ DB │   │ SIEM │   │  AD  │   │ Backup │  │
│  └────┘   └────┘   └──────┘   └──────┘   └────────┘  │
│                                                         │
│  ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐             │
│  │ Workst. │   │ Workst. │   │ Workst. │   (Users)   │
│  └─────────┘   └─────────┘   └─────────┘             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Docker-based Isolation

Each cyber range runs in isolated Docker containers: - Multiple networked hosts - Realistic services and applications - Pre-configured vulnerabilities - Monitoring and logging infrastructure - Scoring and validation mechanisms

🎮 Challenge Types

1. Blue Team Defense

Protect networks against simulated attacks: - Monitor for suspicious activity - Implement security controls - Patch vulnerabilities - Maintain service availability - Respond to incidents

2. Purple Team Exercises

Combine offensive and defensive perspectives: - Identify weaknesses through testing - Implement defensive measures - Validate security controls - Improve detection capabilities

3. Security Operations

Day-to-day security operations tasks: - Log analysis and correlation - Alert triage and investigation - Threat hunting - Vulnerability management - Configuration management

4. Incident Investigation

Forensic analysis and incident response: - Evidence collection and preservation - Timeline reconstruction - Root cause analysis - Impact assessment - Remediation recommendations

📊 Scoring and Evaluation

Cyber range performance is evaluated across multiple dimensions:

Technical Metrics

  • Threats detected and blocked
  • Vulnerabilities patched
  • Services maintained (uptime)
  • Incident response time
  • Correct configuration changes

Operational Metrics

  • Decision quality and rationale
  • Resource allocation efficiency
  • Business impact minimization
  • Compliance adherence
  • Documentation quality

Strategic Metrics

  • Security posture improvement
  • Risk reduction achieved
  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Long-term sustainability

🚀 Running Cyber Range Benchmarks

CAI PRO Exclusive

Cyber Range benchmarks are available exclusively with CAI PRO subscriptions.

General users can access: - Knowledge benchmarks - Privacy benchmarks

For CAI PRO Subscribers

# Launch cyber range environment
python benchmarks/eval_cyberrange.py --range range-01 --model alias1

# Run full cyber range benchmark suite
python benchmarks/eval_cyberrange.py --benchmark all --model alias1

Contact research@aliasrobotics.com for detailed setup instructions and access.

🎓 Why Cyber Ranges Matter

Cyber ranges provide the most comprehensive evaluation of cybersecurity AI because:

  1. Realism - Simulates actual enterprise environments and scenarios
  2. Complexity - Tests ability to handle interconnected systems and dependencies
  3. Context - Requires understanding business priorities and operational constraints
  4. Sustained Engagement - Multi-hour or multi-day scenarios test endurance
  5. Decision Quality - Evaluates strategic thinking beyond technical skills

Unlike isolated CTF challenges, cyber ranges assess complete security operations capabilities including: - Technical skills (exploitation, hardening, monitoring) - Operational thinking (prioritization, trade-offs, risk management) - Strategic planning (long-term improvements, architecture decisions)

This makes cyber ranges the gold standard for evaluating production-ready cybersecurity AI for SOC and security engineering roles.

📚 Research Papers

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🚀 Upgrade to CAI PRO for access to Cyber Range benchmarks →