FBI sets up a "fake city" with a hospital, hotel, houses, market, traffic lights, and data center to train agents against cyberattacks as if a digital crisis were truly happening.

FBI sets up a “fake city” with a hospital, hotel, houses, market, traffic lights, and data center to train agents against cyberattacks as if a digital crisis were truly happening.

Written by Viviane Alves

Published on 15/06/2026 at 15:51

Updated on 15/06/2026 at 15:52

Be the first to react!

Structure created in Huntsville simulates a complete community and prepares investigators to tackle ransomware, digital crimes, and failures in essential services

An unusual structure created by the FBI has been attracting attention for how it turns the fight against cybercrime into an almost real experience.

The agency built a fake city within its campus in Huntsville, United States, to train agents against cyberattacks, ransomware, and complex digital investigations.

Named Kinetic Cyber Range, the facility was inaugurated in February 2025 and occupies about 2,044 square meters.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Scenic city simulates urban routine before digital attacks

The purpose of the Kinetic Cyber Range is to bring the training closer to the real routine of an investigation, without putting real systems at risk.

According to information from the FBI and TechCrunch, the city was designed to appear ordinary until the start of the attack exercises.

During the simulations, participants need to react to system failures, service interruptions, and digital threats in real time.

The environment includes fully furnished houses in simulated use, as well as a hospital, hotel, and supermarket with scenic operation.

The structure also features streets with traffic lights, controlled circulation, a data center with more than 200 physical servers, and an isolated area to contain simulated attacks.

Trailer surrounded by metal fence inside a scenic FBI facility, used for training against cyberattacks, digital forensics, and incident simulations in controlled urban environments. — Scenic area used in FBI training reproduces everyday environments to simulate cyberattacks, digital investigations, and crisis scenarios in critical infrastructure.

Ransomware training gains momentum within the fake city

The main focus of the exercises is on ransomware attacks, one of the most feared threats by companies, hospitals, and public agencies.

In this type of crime, digital criminals block systems and demand ransom to release access.

Therefore, the training reproduces pressure situations where critical systems stop functioning and quick decisions need to be made.

According to the 2025 Internet Crime Report, cited by the FBI, cybercrimes caused more than $20.9 billion in losses in the United States.

The amount represents an increase of 26% compared to the previous year.

Scenic urban environment inside the Kinetic Cyber Range facility, with commercial buildings, simulated streets, and structures used by the FBI for training against cybercrimes and ransomware. — Elevated view of the FBI’s scenic city reveals streets, commercial establishments, and urban infrastructure used to simulate cyberattack scenarios and digital investigations.

Data center with servers makes the simulation more realistic

The technical heart of the fake city is in the training data center, equipped with more than 200 physical servers.

These machines run systems like Windows and Linux, used to simulate corporate networks similar to those of real companies.

Agent Dave Beachboard, responsible for the program, described the environment as cold, cramped, noisy, dark, and difficult.

The description shows that the training tests not only technical knowledge.

In practice, agents also need to deal with pressure, discomfort, and quick decisions during a digital crisis.

Digital forensics is also part of the operation

The space is also used to train digital forensics, an essential area in investigations involving devices, systems, and encrypted data.

This stage helps investigators analyze information on protected equipment during official investigations.

In this way, the scenic city functions as a digital war laboratory on a real scale.

FBI turns cybercrime into a physical investigation experience

The creation of the Kinetic Cyber Range shows how the fight against cybercrime has ceased to be just a computer task.

Currently, digital attacks can affect hospitals, businesses, homes, public services, and essential networks.

For this reason, the FBI is betting on more realistic training to prepare agents against unpredictable threats.

In the end, the fake city leaves a clear message: digital crime is no longer something distant or abstract.

It can affect the routine of an entire city, even when everything starts within a screen.

Do you think this type of scenic city should be used by more countries to train teams against cyberattacks? Leave your opinion!

0 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

FBI sets up a “fake city” with a hospital, hotel, houses, market, traffic lights, and data center to train agents against cyberattacks as if a digital crisis were truly happening.

Structure created in Huntsville simulates a complete community and prepares investigators to tackle ransomware, digital crimes, and failures in essential services

Scenic city simulates urban routine before digital attacks

Ransomware training gains momentum within the fake city

Data center with servers makes the simulation more realistic

Owner of Tok&Stok and Mobly raises alert in retail, sees debt exceed R$ 1 billion and rushes to court to try to save stores, jobs, and essential operations

Digital forensics is also part of the operation

FBI turns cybercrime into a physical investigation experience

Mother and daughter build a 70 m² house with more than 8,000 discarded glass bottles and impress with their creativity; known as the Casa de Sal, the property is located on Itamaracá Island, in Pernambuco.

Workers were opening a new road connection near the Marginal Tietê when they found, in the underground of the construction site, remnants of locomotives, wagons, and boilers from the 19th century linked to the forgotten history of Lapa.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

China transforms desert-devastated area into the world’s largest artificial forest, planting trees for 60 years, blocking sand that reached Beijing, and creating a “green lung” of 92,000 hectares in a region once considered lost.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

China has deployed snake-shaped robots to slide along power lines, where they have already inspected over 130 kilometers of cables using cameras and sensors to detect damaged wires, worn-out parts, and overheating.

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

New technology starts monitoring 300,000 hectares in Mato Grosso do Sul in an initiative by Suzano that combines sensors, continuous monitoring, and advanced data analysis, allowing for quick identification of threats and enhancing regional environmental protection.

Thai girl sees hornbills on a school trip, discovers that species are declining and creates artificial nests with repurposed plastic; at 17, the project engages communities, protects chicks, and wins an international environmental award for young innovators.

Cabana do Pai Tomás will undergo an urbanization project with a confidential value, new housing, and slope containment in a project funded by the World Bank.

Hidden cameras in the jungle capture the Amazon ghost dog for 23 years and reveal curious details about one of the most mysterious canids on the planet.

Everyone complains, but everyone stops: Rede Graal charges R$ 20 for a coxinha, earns R$ 2 billion a year, and turned clean bathrooms, bus drivers, and hot bread into a billion-dollar machine on Brazil’s highways.

FBI sets up a “fake city” with a hospital, hotel, houses, market, traffic lights, and data center to train agents against cyberattacks as if a digital crisis were truly happening.

Structure created in Huntsville simulates a complete community and prepares investigators to tackle ransomware, digital crimes, and failures in essential services

Scenic city simulates urban routine before digital attacks

Ransomware training gains momentum within the fake city

Data center with servers makes the simulation more realistic

Owner of Tok&Stok and Mobly raises alert in retail, sees debt exceed R$ 1 billion and rushes to court to try to save stores, jobs, and essential operations

Digital forensics is also part of the operation

FBI turns cybercrime into a physical investigation experience

Mother and daughter build a 70 m² house with more than 8,000 discarded glass bottles and impress with their creativity; known as the Casa de Sal, the property is located on Itamaracá Island, in Pernambuco.

Workers were opening a new road connection near the Marginal Tietê when they found, in the underground of the construction site, remnants of locomotives, wagons, and boilers from the 19th century linked to the forgotten history of Lapa.

Instead of burning or burying old tires, an American city is transforming about 2,000 of them into the street itself, paving its first sections with a quieter and more durable rubber asphalt.

China transforms desert-devastated area into the world’s largest artificial forest, planting trees for 60 years, blocking sand that reached Beijing, and creating a “green lung” of 92,000 hectares in a region once considered lost.

Greek island offers free housing for volunteers, but there’s a condition: you need to take care of rescued cats.

China has deployed snake-shaped robots to slide along power lines, where they have already inspected over 130 kilometers of cables using cameras and sensors to detect damaged wires, worn-out parts, and overheating.

Engineers want to carve through Africa with a giant canal to bring water from the world’s second-largest river to a dying lake on the edge of the Sahara Desert that has already lost 90% of its water.

New technology starts monitoring 300,000 hectares in Mato Grosso do Sul in an initiative by Suzano that combines sensors, continuous monitoring, and advanced data analysis, allowing for quick identification of threats and enhancing regional environmental protection.

Thai girl sees hornbills on a school trip, discovers that species are declining and creates artificial nests with repurposed plastic; at 17, the project engages communities, protects chicks, and wins an international environmental award for young innovators.

A rare gas cuts through the hot springs in Zambia and reveals a deep fault that may penetrate the crust down to the Earth’s mantle.

Forget the image of a frozen and still continent: scientists have just revealed hundreds of earthquakes beneath East Antarctica, in an area where no one expected to find this phenomenon.

Huawei will install Chinese batteries in 24 cities in the Amazon, in a project worth R$ 850 million that could become the largest energy storage system in Brazil.

New technology starts monitoring 300,000 hectares in Mato Grosso do Sul in an initiative by Suzano that combines sensors, continuous monitoring, and advanced data analysis, allowing for quick identification of threats and enhancing regional environmental protection.

Thai girl sees hornbills on a school trip, discovers that species are declining and creates artificial nests with repurposed plastic; at 17, the project engages communities, protects chicks, and wins an international environmental award for young innovators.

Cabana do Pai Tomás will undergo an urbanization project with a confidential value, new housing, and slope containment in a project funded by the World Bank.

Hidden cameras in the jungle capture the Amazon ghost dog for 23 years and reveal curious details about one of the most mysterious canids on the planet.

Everyone complains, but everyone stops: Rede Graal charges R$ 20 for a coxinha, earns R$ 2 billion a year, and turned clean bathrooms, bus drivers, and hot bread into a billion-dollar machine on Brazil’s highways.