Frequently Asked Questions

CYRIN^® is a next-generation cyber range platform featuring real tools, real attacks, and real scenarios that provides hands-on training and experience that students, educators, and professionals can use in realistic learn-by-doing scenarios. A cyber range is a collection of virtual computers where students can safely practice/train/learn in a controlled environment.

CYRIN was built by Architecture Technology Corporation (ATCorp). ATCorp’s mission is to invent and develop innovative software products and services.

ATCorp is involved in advanced R&D, systems engineering, and software development. We’re a company of just less than 100 employees headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, with a cybersecurity R&D center in Ithaca, NY. We have an active co-op program with noted Colleges and Universities in the United States. CYRIN was born out of a U.S. Department of Defense program several years ago. Virtual training has become essential to the DoD and we currently work with several stakeholders in the DoD on programs to enhance CYRIN’s platform, content, and effectiveness.

CYRIN trains students in the next-generation of cybersecurity skills from their own desktop. With virtual cybersecurity training in a real-world environment, CYRIN enables students to test their cybersecurity skills on their schedule with no custom software or travel necessary.

• 24/7, on-demand, online skill-building
• No need to gather students in a single location
• No custom software to install
• Multi-system, complex exercises that are difficult to replicate in work or home environments
• Low cost yet supports a wide range of cyber training areas
• Scalable, sophisticated training for large groups
• Instructor tools with monitoring flexibility
• Exercise Builder lets you rapidly move from ideas to labs in hours

All that is required is a modern, HTML5 capable web browser, such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or Apple Safari. No plugins are required. Microsoft Internet Explorer is not supported. A laptop or desktop computer is recommended for full interactivity with CYRIN exercises.

CYRIN has three primary components: a Training Platform with three levels of training, a Performance Monitoring module, and the Exercise Builder.

• Training Platform. Currently there are three levels of training.
• Performance Monitor. CYRIN's integrated Performance Monitor allows students to track their progress and enables administrators, educators, and corporate managers to see how their trainees are progressing. The Performance Monitor has individual and overall class views for administrators, educators, and managers. The ability to grade, map progress, and view problem points are all included.
• Exercise Builder. Exercise Builder is a feature unique to CYRIN. It is a tool that allows educators to build new labs, exercises, attack scenarios, and courses into the CYRIN training platform. The Exercise Builder can help you move from an idea for a new course to the reality of that course in hours. This allows CYRIN training to support the current generation of cybersecurity professionals while developing the next generation of cybersecurity leaders.

These courses are predominantly developed by ATCorp using our rapid lab creation tools, including our drag-and-drop Exercise Builder and learning objective tree builder. Our focus is on hands-on exercises, meaning you'll actually use the software about which you're learning. We continually update exercises, labs, and attack scenarios, and create new ones, in response to the changing threat landscape and student needs.

Yes. CYRIN has several ongoing cyber-related projects with colleges and universities. We are particularly active in the co-op area where many colleges and university students work on CYRIN in conjunction with the CYRIN staff and within the construct of their college and university instructors. We also have students using CYRIN as part of their class curriculum.

CYRIN can support hundreds of independent, simultaneous exercise runs, with additional users browsing educational content at the same time. It has been used by organizations with >100,000 participants. With a cloud-based CYRIN deployment, there is no practical limit to the maximum number of simultaneous exercises.

Students run exercises entirely on demand; no scheduling is required. Subscribers to CYRIN can use the system at will using any browser, in any place and at any time. The student can pause a lab in progress, come back to it later, and resume exactly where he or she left off.

The student can monitor his or her performance with each course while they are completing the course. Instructors can monitor students live or after the fact, with a detailed view into each student’s actions and evaluation tree. Instructors or managers can also get the completion percentage for each course in a “grader report,” with several report options available. These reports reflect completion and ability based on the student’s actual accomplishments in the virtual environment.

Yes, CYRIN can be integrated with other learning platforms via the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard. We are currently partnering with many organizations of IT and cybersecurity professionals, where we have integrated some or all of the CYRIN labs in their training systems. Learner performance is automatically provided back to the organization using CYRIN training.

Yes: our interactive course catalog is available directly on the CYRIN site at cyrin.atcorp.com/catalog/. Currently, our catalog contains approximately 50 labs, cyber exercises, and attack scenarios on the CYRIN platform.

Yes, any new labs, exercises, or attack scenarios developed during your subscription period become available immediately to you at no extra charge.

Yes, you can modify or change your subscription at any time.

We offer flexible pricing plans, either based on usage (number of CYRIN seats) or site-wide. We also have long-term licensing options available for use with your private cloud or our public CYRIN service.

Enterprise and Educational pricing options:

• Block of 10 instructor-selected labs, unlimited runs of each, priced per student
• Individual lab runs, with volume discounts available
• All 38+ instructional labs (Level 1), priced per student and duration of access with volume discounts
• All Level 2 individual and team exercises, priced per student seat and for a specific subscription period
• All Level 3 attack scenarios
• Tools Training: CYRIN has training packages for those who wish to train on the most commonly-used tools in Network Engineering or the most commonly-used Cyber Security tools
• Specialty Area Training: CYRIN's training is divided into 8 specialty areas within cybersecurity, with packages of labs, exercises, and attack scenarios available in each area
• NIST NICE Training: CYRIN has developed specific training packages for NICE Work Roles.