The FBI built its own replica small town to simulate real-world cyberattacks
Key takeaways
- 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.
- Since opening, says the agency, the facility has trained more than 1,400 students, including FBI personnel and partners from other federal and local agencies.
- 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.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is pulling back the curtain on a 22,000 square-foot replica town on its Huntsville, Alabama campus that it built to train law enforcement in simulating and investigating real-world cyberattacks.
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.
Dubbed the Kinetic Cyber Range, the FBI s small purpose-built town opened in February 2025 and 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. Since opening, says the agency, the facility has trained more than 1,400 students, including FBI personnel and partners from other federal and local agencies.