Russia Allocates Nearly 2 Billion Rubles for National Cyber Polygon
The Russian government will spend 1.92 billion rubles on the creation and development of the “National Cyber Polygon,” a platform for training and educating information security specialists, according to CNews. Of this amount, the federal budget will provide 1.62 billion rubles, while 300 million rubles will come from non-budgetary sources. The Ministry of Digital Development is responsible for overseeing the project’s implementation.
The project is being carried out by Rostelecom-Solar. The cyber polygon is used to simulate scenarios for the banking, oil, and energy sectors, with plans to expand into oil refining and backbone telecommunications networks.
Project Background and Development
In December 2019, Rostelecom won the tender to create the National Cyber Polygon system and delegated the development and operation to its subsidiary, Rostelecom-Solar. Construction of the system began in 2020. The National Cyber Polygon is described as a “virtual country” that models the operations of key sectors of the Russian economy. The platform uses enterprise infrastructure, industrial equipment, workstations, mail and web servers, and includes corporate information security tools.
The federal project “Information Security” under the national “Digital Economy” program calls for the creation of a cyber polygon to train specialists, experts, and managers in modern information security practices. The initiative also includes the establishment of independent centers for technical testing of software and hardware, including security solutions, giving companies access to analytical data and independent test results for market offerings.
Expansion and Training Centers
Currently, there are eight National Cyber Polygon locations at Russian universities. Earlier, support centers were opened at Far Eastern Federal University, Sirius Science and Technology University, Siberian State University of Telecommunications and Informatics, and ITMO University (St. Petersburg). Since the beginning of 2022, three more centers have launched: at Volga State University of Telecommunications and Informatics, Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI), Orenburg State University, and an educational center at St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications. By the end of the year, another center is planned at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.
In 2021, 78 cyber exercises were held at the National Cyber Polygon, including 16 events at universities. In 2022, the platform plans to expand its banking segment and launch two new industry segments: oil refining and backbone telecommunications networks. Previously, corporate, electric power, and oil and gas segments were implemented. By 2024, additional segments will be added, covering the transportation, metallurgy, and mining industries.
Industry Collaboration
In 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko proposed involving commercial organizations with expertise in countering cyberattacks in the National Cyber Polygon. Currently, organizations such as Kaspersky Lab, Diasoft, ISimpleLab, Antiphishing, T8, MasterSCADA, Tsoft, and others collaborate with the cyber polygon, providing solutions for integration into digital twins of various types of organizations.