{"id":1465,"date":"2026-10-24T00:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T00:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/proxy-sphere\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2026-10-24T00:39:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T00:39:51","slug":"bridging-research-testbeds-and-cyber-ranges-sphere-at-dagstuhl-seminar-26422","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/proxy-sphere\/about\/news\/bridging-research-testbeds-and-cyber-ranges-sphere-at-dagstuhl-seminar-26422\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging Research Testbeds and Cyber Ranges: SPHERE at Dagstuhl Seminar 26422"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cybersecurity research testbeds and cyber ranges share many technologies and challenges, but often operate in separate worlds. How can these infrastructures work together to advance both scientific research and practical cybersecurity training?<\/p>\n

That question brought members of the SPHERE team together with international cybersecurity researchers at Dagstuhl Seminar 26422: Cyber Security Experimentation Beyond Exercises and Cyber Ranges<\/strong><\/a>, held October 11\u201316, 2026, at Schloss Dagstuhl in Wadern, Germany.<\/p>\n

Schloss Dagstuhl<\/strong><\/a>, the Leibniz Center for Informatics, hosts prestigious, invitation-only seminars that bring together leading researchers from around the world to exchange ideas, explore emerging challenges, and foster collaboration. Unlike traditional conferences, Dagstuhl Seminars emphasize interactive discussions, brainstorming, and the development of new research directions.<\/p>\n

The seminar brought together researchers working on cybersecurity experimentation, research testbeds, cyber ranges, training environments, and exercises. Its goal was to identify common needs, share approaches, and explore opportunities to develop more interoperable and reusable infrastructures that support both rigorous scientific research and effective training.<\/p>\n

USC-ISI and SPHERE Contributions<\/strong><\/p>\n

USC-ISI Managing Director Terry Benzel<\/b><\/a> served as one of the seminar’s four organizers, alongside Maria Leitner<\/a><\/strong> of the University of Regensburg, Olaf Maennel<\/a> <\/strong>of the University of Adelaide, and Teodor Sommestad <\/a><\/strong>of the Swedish Defence Research Agency.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"

Photo Credit: David Balenson<\/p><\/div>\n

Terry opened the seminar with a presentation on Testbeds and Their Uses<\/em>, setting the stage for discussions about the different purposes served by cybersecurity experimentation infrastructures and opportunities for greater interoperability between research testbeds and cyber ranges.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"

Photo Credit: David Balenson<\/p><\/div>\n

SPHERE Principal Investigator Jelena Mirkovic<\/b><\/a> presented the NSF-funded SPHERE research infrastructure, highlighting its diverse physical and virtual resources for rigorous, reproducible cybersecurity experimentation. She described how SPHERE provides researchers and educators with remote access to specialized resources, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices and industrial control systems (ICS), while supporting the creation, sharing, and reuse of experimental artifacts.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"

Photo Credit: Zhenkai Liang<\/p><\/div>\n

SPHERE Community Outreach Director David Balenson<\/b> <\/a>presented Extending Research Infrastructures to Testing, Training, Exercises and CTFs<\/em>, exploring opportunities for research testbeds and cybersecurity training communities to learn from one another. While research testbeds emphasize controlled, measurable, and reproducible experimentation, training environments and cyber ranges often emphasize realistic scenarios, human participation, and operational assessment.<\/p>\n

David’s presentation raised questions about how infrastructures, scenarios, tools, datasets, and evaluation methods could be shared across these communities. It also explored whether cybersecurity exercises and capture-the-flag (CTF) competitions could serve as reusable research benchmarks, and how to address challenges involving portability, reproducibility, security, and privacy.<\/p>\n

Exploring Shared Challenges and Opportunities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout the week, participants engaged in presentations, demonstrations, world caf\u00e9s, and breakout discussions organized around three major themes:<\/p>\n