Baltimore City has a new cybersecurity training center

With more than 200,0000 cybersecurity jobs unfilled in the U.S., the team behind Baltimore Cyber Range is hoping to train would-be employees and change that statistic.
Stephen Thomas, the VP of Sales at Cyberbit, the company behind the Cyber Range said the new facility will give true hands on training in the cybersecurity world. The Range held its first training class last week but officially cut the ribbon at 8 Market Place on Thursday.
The idea for a cybersecurity training center in Baltimore was born in Israel when Gov. Larry Hogan travelled to the country for a trade mission. Less than a year later the center is set up and using a platform originally built for the Israeli Defense Force.
Mike Doyle, the president of Baltimore Cyber Range, said the technology allows trainees to experience real world hacks and security issues.
“The Cyberbit technology provides range capability that’s very unique,” he said. “It provides hyper realistic training and allows us to expose practitioners to real world threats. It’s about enhancing skills and team building. The range generates a complete virtual enterprise environment. It basically has everything to emulate a real world environment.”
Thomas hopes to see 1,000 people receive training at Cyber Range.
“If you’re a vet coming out of service or if you’re a high school grad who doesn’t have a vision for what you want to do, or if you’re a college grad with a history degree and you want to pivot, it gives you a platform to get that core skill set,” he said. “You can then go to a large company and say, ‘Here is the skill set I have, how can I help you?’”
Gov. Hogan said that help is badly needed in Maryland.
“Maryland has become the cyber capital of the country. We’ve got the NSA, the U.S. Cyber Command, there are more than 74 federal laboratories in Maryland, and we have 1,200 private sector cyber companies,” he said. “Baltimore City is quickly becoming a hotbed of cybersecurity activity.”
Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh said this training center ensures no one gets left behind in the city during this tech boom.
“We are going to create jobs and connect people to the jobs of the future,” she said. “It’s more than just training people for jobs, it’s training people for the right jobs. We’ve got to get individuals prepared to get trained and ready to participate in this industry.”
The Baltimore Cyber Range is the first of its kind in the U.S. Cyberbit has launched 11 other range centers across the world.