Cyber warfare training center in NYC | What Is IT?
NEW YORK - You won't find any elliptical machines at Cybergym. However, heavy lifting is being done by "good guys" doing "bad things" for a good reason. Governments and companies can come here to see how vulnerable they are to a cyberattack.
Ofir Hason used to work for the Israeli government. He is now the CEO of Cybergym, which is opening a training center in New York City. It will put organizations in the same room as hackers who attempt to breach their security.
A Cybergym hacker, who we'll call Mr. Null, told Fox 5 News he was able to hack into 10 out of 10 companies he was tasked to test.
Cybergym opens at a time when Americans are still becoming familiar with the cost of cyberwarfare—from ransomware to the Equifax hack to questions surrounding the presidential election.
Cybergym even has a room to simulate a utility facility. Not all hackers are in it for the money. Sometimes they want operational control. In this simulation, it is a water-treatment facility. But it could just as easily be a nuclear power plant or an oil rig.
Most Americans think of hackers as one group, perhaps indicative of how far behind we are when it comes to tackling cybersecurity.