FBI builds full replica town to train agents for real‑world cyberattacks
The FBI has revealed a 22,000 square-foot replica town on its Huntsville, Alabama campus, purpose-built to train investigators in real-world cyberattack scenarios. Known as the Kinetic Cyber Range, the facility opened in February 2025 and includes fully functioning houses, a hotel, a hospital, a gas station, a courthouse, and a power company, all wired with real devices and systems. The context is stark: the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report recorded a staggering $20.9 billion in U.S. cybercrime losses, a 26% increase over the previous year, with ransomware ranked as the top threat to critical infrastructure. Since opening, the facility has trained more than 1,400 students from federal and local agencies. The range also includes a data center with over 200 physical servers and is used to practice digital forensics, including the use of controversial tools that exploit undisclosed vulnerabilities to extract data from encrypted devices.