Cyber ranges - real world skills development for OT & IT cybersecurity education

Cybersecurity has emerged as a primary concern for governments, organizations, and citizens. However, a significant deficit persists in the number of available cybersecurity professionals and the skill sets of those already in the field. This characteristic results in insufficient numbers of skilled professionals and doubts among companies regarding graduates' readiness for the workforce due to perceived inadequacies in essential skills. Additionally, cyberattacks are prevalent but the consequences mean professionals aim to prevent as many breaches as possible and reduce the impact, contain and eradicate any attack that exploit a system. The problem that arises is that cyber security professionals require realistic breach scenarios and cyberattacks to train and become sufficiently skilled but cyber professionals are consistently working hard to prevent such attacks in the real-world. The research question that this paper explores is how do we train cyber security professionals to deal with the challenging ever-changing cyber environment and ensure new technologies will not negatively impact security?