ACTING: A Platform for Cyber Ranges Federation

TL;DR

The paper introduces ACTING, a platform that enables interoperable, automated, and multi-domain cyber training exercises across federated cyber ranges using a new structured language and evaluation mechanisms.

Contribution

It presents EDL-FG, a formal language for describing cyber exercises, and an automated platform for federated cyber-range training with multi-domain scenarios.

Findings

Demonstrates scalable federation of cyber ranges for complex exercises.

Provides automated assessment of trainee actions across distributed environments.

Enables multi-domain civilian and military cyber training scenarios.

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.