Overview
Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst is a not-for-profit corporation that provides cyber education services across all sectors. Established in 2018 and operated by Toronto Metropolitan University (originally called Ryerson University), it offers programs and services across Canada and globally to empower individuals and organizations to tackle the increasing cybersecurity threats. Since 2020, its services have been underpinned by RHEA’s CITEF cyber-range services as a main training engine, based on cybersecurity scenarios that have been developed by RHEA in association with Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst personnel.
About the Catalyst
Since its launch, the Catalyst has become a dynamic force in the Canadian cybersecurity ecosystem. It has an extensive client base which spans many different sectors, including financial, municipal government, technology, law enforcement and adult education.
To date it has helped to create over 800 jobs, enabled over 7,000 people to acquire cyber skills and fuelled over 500 businesses.
Our role
RHEA has been working with the Catalyst since October 2020, providing our CITEF cyber-range platform and supporting the development of scenarios to assist the Catalyst’s curriculum and courseware development.
In February 2021, the Catalyst officially announced the launch of the Catalyst Cyber Range, based on RHEA’s technology, which now has a catalogue of 10 different scenarios that students can experience. By the start of 2024, over 70 sessions had been performed using the Catalyst Cyber Range, providing more than 600 students with the ability to experience real-world cyberattack scenarios.
Initially, RHEA’s role was to provide hardware, software and technical support to the Catalyst’s cyber training, as well as being responsible for the deployment of assets to build the cyber-range infrastructure and meet the needs of its users for different scenarios. The role has evolved with RHEA working closely with the Catalyst personnel to develop complex cybersecurity scenarios that reflect the current threat landscape. In parallel, we also support the customization of other products to meet the client’s needs.
As RHEA continues its work with the Catalyst to jointly develop new training courses including simulation scenarios to reflect educational, industry, critical infrastructure and public sector requirements.
Why use CITEF cyber-range for training?
Cyber-ranges are increasingly used by critical infrastructures and commercial organizations to plan and prepare defensive strategies against cyberattacks. They also play a wider role in the cybersecurity arena, as they are an ideal tool for training and educational purposes.
Cyber incidents are the number one global risk in the Allianz Risk Barometer 2024 – for the first time by a clear margin (36% of responses). ‘Cyber is the cause of business interruption that companies fear most, while cybersecurity resilience is their most concerning environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk issue. It is also the top company concern across a wide range of industries including consumer goods, financial services, government, public services, healthcare, leisure and tourism, media, professional services, technology, and telecommunications.’
The goal of the Catalyst is to educate as many people as possible about cybersecurity, from formal training to public awareness. Cyber-ranges can play an important role, and RHEA’s solution is being used by RCC to help with its education provision and to keep organizations and people safe.
RHEA’s CITEF cyber-range underpins the Catalyst Cyber Range and continues to provide support, for example in expanding the library of cyber threat scenarios for learners to practice with and setting up customized virtual networks and scenarios for organizations that book the facility.
Project milestones
RHEA is entering its fourth year working with the Catalyst, supporting its growing program and helping to identify and adapt its training for each market. There were a number of key project activities.
Tailored scenarios
RHEA worked with the Catalyst to identify possible target groups while supporting a variety of stakeholders and curating training effectively to meet the needs of diverse audiences. This activity included creating specific market sector scenarios such as maritime, health, energy, forensic and Internet of Things (IoT).
Defining target training groups
With the Catalyst’s unique holistic cyber-range, there were a few challenges on how to identify the right client groups for each session. By defining cyber-range scenarios in more detail through demos and clear descriptions, we were able to define and refine the groups that would benefit from this training.
Additionally, we enable the Catalyst to market the sessions more effectively by creating client description documents, brochures and specialized content based on the target groups. To support diverse stakeholders, we created bespoke scenarios for some participants such as law enforcement where we created scenarios specifically for cyber investigations.
Promoting hands-on learning
Initially, it was proposed that each cyber-range session would be targeted at larger groups. This training setup would provide students with the opportunity to work together. However, with the complex nature of each scenario, it took a long time to move through the scenarios as a team, resulting in less hands-on learning. To address this challenge, we implemented a setup in which each user gets their own environment to work on through the platform. This helps to enable learning for each person on a team rather than just one representative going through the session.
Client benefits
Over the past 3 years, we have created a flexible cyber-range platform that enables the Catalyst to design and deliver training courses on multiple scenarios to make it more relevant to each audience. Our CITEF cyber-range platform underpins each training course and scenario, enabling the Catalyst to offer its clients a cost-effective solution.
Trish Dyl, Director, Corporate Training and Cyber-Range at the Catalyst, has been working on this project since its creation in 2018. Passionate about making people aware of cyber threats and cybersecurity, she believes that this kind of training should be offered by educational facilities, especially post-secondary institutes where cyber-range training should be added to their curriculum, as well as being implemented by companies that have their own security operation centres and want to enhance their security skillsets.
“With the help of RHEA’s flexible CITEF platform, we are bringing real-world learning to multiple learners from multiple organizations and backgrounds.”
Trish Dyl, Corporate Training and Cyber-Range, Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst