ATHENE Cyber Range

Virtually all organizations—companies, government agencies, and research institutions—now use digital technologies for their business processes. Since this inevitably increases their exposure to cyberattacks, posing significant risks to these organizations, they are also investing in cybersecurity technology to better protect themselves. This is fundamentally correct and a good thing.

However, in most cases, technology does not offer perfect protection—for example, due to errors in programming or configuration. That is why it is always up to the individuals responsible for operational cybersecurity within organizations to detect ongoing or impending attacks as quickly as possible and take countermeasures to prevent major damage and the associated costs. However, practical experience shows that in most cases, attacks are detected far too late to be stopped in time. Faster detection and defense against attacks require that relevant skills be trained on a regular basis. However, these training sessions cannot take place in the organizations’ production environments; instead, they are conducted on a cyber range.

If an organization ignores the requirements for adequately strengthening its own cyber resilience, this can be viewed as organizational failure, since systemic errors or deficiencies can lead to serious problems or the failure to achieve the organization’s objectives. Various laws in effect in Germany require organizations to adequately train their employees to strengthen cybersecurity within the organization, which is why cybersecurity training must also be regarded as a mandatory obligation for organizations.

ATHENE offers organizations the opportunity for their employees to conduct exercises on the ATHENE Cyber Range under the expert guidance of cybersecurity specialists. This offering is aimed at all organizations for which cyberattacks pose a risk. It is structured as follows:

1. Cybersecurity training for companies, government agencies, and research institutions (beyond basic training for research)
   This offering is available to all organizations and research institutions that wish to enroll in training beyond the basic training for research.
   Information on the regular cyber training
     offerings
2. Basic Training for Research Institutions in Hesse
   Thanks to central support from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) and the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art, and Culture (HMWK), ATHENE can offer research institutions in Germany (both university and non-university) cyber training on the ATHENE Cyber Range at significantly discounted rates.
   Information on the program with special rates