By Esteban Fernandez, Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Long the domain of modern action movie tropes, cyber attacks are becoming less fiction than reality.
In 2021, the owner of a pipeline system carrying fuel from Texas to the Southeast suffered a ransomware attack that caused gas supply shortages in Southeast states. Colonial Pipeline, the owner, paid $4.4 billion in ransom money within hours of the attack. It took days for them to fully restore their systems.
Costa Rica lost $30 million a day after a cyberattack aimed at the country’s government institutions led to delayed government payments, stifled trade and limited services. And since the outbreak of the war between Ukraine and Russia, both countries have engaged in a cyberwar as intense as the ground one.
Cyberspace can be a dangerous place. However, a new $750,000 grant in funding from the U.S. Department of Education will allow West Virginia University to construct a cybersecurity range to teach students how to overcome these attacks.
“Cyber range, in general, is a term that means a place where we can virtually test cybersecurity concepts,” Tom Devine, teaching assistant professor at the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at WVU, said. “Virtually, meaning we’re not going to actually release a virus into the world. We’re not going to actually hack real existing computers. We need to set up a virtual environment that’s in the sandbox, if you will, of the cyber range. And that way, you know, anything we do doesn’t escape out into the world.”
The cyber range will be put together over the coming year.
