Software-as-a-Service Cyber Range

Increasing accessibility: CybExer’s shift towards a SaaS delivery model

Cyber ranges are increasingly used in many different industries and have proved to be an effective tool to address the cyber security skills gap. High cost and inflexibility, however, still limit their accessibility, and CybExer Technologies has decided to change that.

More and more organizations recognize their lack of preparedness to counter rapidly evolving threats to cyber security. Many are ready to take action but don’t have the expertise, in-house skills or resources to set up and maintain an on-premises cyber range solution or the time to send their best IT and cyber experts to extensive training. Therefore, cyber ranges have been a luxury playground for government and military institutions that have made significant investments in technology development and understand the need to test and protect it. Quite often, such institutions have extensive resources and in-house teams with relevant skills to set up and host an on-premises cyber range. But with cyber threats becoming progressively more complex and increasing in numbers, more and more industries, companies and organizations realize the urgency of the need to address the cyber security skills gap. This has also increased the demand for more flexible, scalable, affordable and on-demand cyber ranges.

From tailor-made to subscription-based

CybExer Technologies has developed a state-of-the-art, full-featured cyber range solution and is growing its world-class consulting and training expertise to help our clients foresee and mitigate cyber security threats. For years CybExer has offered tailor-made, military-grade solutions and high-quality professional services to the world’s most demanding clients. Our extensive cooperation with government and military organizations and many commercial sectors has taught us the most effective ways to adjust our solution to customers’ needs and allowed us to develop best practices for setting up a cyber range for any company. So far, our cooperation with clients has been mainly project based. Now, however, various-size companies with different pain points and business models want to increase their resilience by implementing a cyber range for their particular use cases. This requires a more straightforward, standardized and faster service model, which is why we have decided to offer our cyber range platform, content and professional services in a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. The additional service model will increase the accessibility of our technology and provides a quicker take-off, optimized costs, scalability and on-demand content and professional services for our customers.

We understand that most companies today that need and are ready to implement cyber range as part of their cyber risk or skills management system don’t have previous experience with cyber range technology. Moreover, for most companies hosting an on-premises solution, it might be an overwhelming commitment and put additional pressure on in-house IT teams, which most likely are the target training audience for the range in the first place. With SaaS, all these problems are avoided, since CybExer takes full responsibility for the range’s infrastructure management. Clients don’t have to make initial investments in hardware, worry about its lifecycle or burden their IT teams with maintaining the infrastructure. The most significant benefit of the SaaS delivery model is the running start for clients, since the platform set-up is significantly quicker than with on-premises solutions.

SaaS brings more affordability and flexibility

Not only is SaaS the most resource-effective delivery model, it is also considerably more affordable, especially in the long run. Regardless of their experience with cyber ranges, most customers find it difficult to predict how frequent and how intense the platform utilization will be, especially when they must plan for years ahead. We understand there are times when the cyber range needs to host only data or when no events are conducted and periods where many simultaneous exercises or training events should occur. We aim to offer our clients the flexibility to increase the capacity whenever they need it the most and reduce costs when they don’t, consequently optimizing cyber range costs over time.

Implementing and integrating a cyber range is never a one-off project for the organization. Cyber ranges are powerful multifunctional tools and are effectively applicable to numerous use cases. However, it takes time to familiarize yourself and your teams with the platform and utilize all the features. Even when buying a standard SaaS subscription, adjusting the platform and training content to the organization’s needs is crucial. Because of this, CybExer invests time and energy in client’ onboarding and training and helps to tailor the range experience. From the beginning, we consider ourselves your cyber range partner, so we have included cyber range operator training and support services in all our subscription tiers.

All subscription levels also come with a quality content library, a complete set of features from event management to independent content modification and creation options. We don’t set artificial limits to essential platform functions: all key software features are accessible and usable regardless of the customer’s subscription level. Our most advanced users will benefit most from the content creation possibilities. We believe that only a customer-specific content, skills and risk management system supports and encourages long-term commitment to overcome the cybersecurity skills gap and help to keep up with the latest threats.

Suitable for content delivery

CybExer’s SaaS model cyber range is particularly suitable for content delivery organizations (e.g. academia or training companies) whose business model includes a constant need to create and maintain their content libraries and to organize and manage training, testing or exercise events and that need easy access to the platform. Our goal is to help training companies distinguish their offerings and improve their revenue through creative means, while keeping the cost of investment reasonable. CybExer has set no limitations for such use cases. Furthermore, we’ll gladly team up with said customers and help set up their cyber range to become an integral part of their business model and, if applicable, a primary tool for creating revenue.

For cyber ranges to be cost-effective, they must be flexible to accommodate different use cases, include quality and up-to-date content, and allow rapid and independent customization and content creation, event management and modifications. There is a long way to go before cyber ranges become a commodity – accessible, affordable and intuitive enough for independent use requiring minimal assistance – but that’s precisely what we at CybExer Technologies are committed to. The first step towards this goal is to relieve customers’ investment and maintenance burden by delivering our cyber range as a service.