ACTING: A Platform for Cyber Ranges Federation
Kyriakos Christou, Maria Michalopoulou, Stefano Taggi, Matteo Merialdo, Nikolai Stoianov + 19 more
TLDR
ACTING is a platform that uses a new language (EDL-FG) for federated cyber ranges, enabling automated, multi-domain cyber defense training and evaluation.
Key contributions
- Introduces EDL-FG, a language for describing cyber-range exercises and infrastructure for automated deployment.
- ACTING platform provides automated performance evaluation and scoring across federated cyber ranges.
- Enables multi-domain cyber training scenarios, combining civilian and military operational contexts.
Why it matters
This paper addresses the critical need for scalable and realistic cyber defense training. By enabling interoperable scenario descriptions and automated evaluation across federated cyber ranges, ACTING significantly enhances the complexity and realism of CD exercises. This is crucial for preparing against evolving cyber threats.
Original Abstract
Cyber Defence (CD) training requires interoperable cyber-range environments capable of supporting complex, multidomain exercises across distributed infrastructures. This paper presents three main contributions addressing this challenge. First, we introduce the Exercise Description Language - First Generation (EDL-FG), a structured language for formally describing cyber-range training services and exercises. EDL-FG captures both the technical infrastructure required to emulate ICT/OT environments and the scenario logic governing cyber events, injects, and participant interactions, enabling interoperable and automated scenario deployment across federated Cyber Ranges (CRs). Second, the ACTING platform introduces automated PE and scoring mechanisms that assess trainee actions during exercises through coordinated data collection and analysis across participating CRs. Third, the platform enables multi-domain cyber training scenarios that combine civilian and military operational contexts. Building upon federation capabilities established under the H2020 ECHO project, ACTING demonstrates how interoperable scenario description and automated evaluation support scalable and realistic CD training.
📬 Weekly AI Paper Digest
Get the top 10 AI/ML arXiv papers from the week — summarized, scored, and delivered to your inbox every Monday.