By DRAEDON LEDBETTER
Pima Community College is the first college in the country to have a live-fire, hands-on cyber warfare range.
The Arizona Cyber Warfare Range at Pima Community College’s East Campus opened Jan. 25.
A live fire range addresses the threats to cyber security using the latest malware and other software in the world of cyberspace. Another way of explaining live fire is that the range is in a simulated environment and deals with the threats in cyberspace.
The Arizona Cyber Warfare Range is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and its parent company is the Washington, D.C.-based National Cyber Warfare Foundation.
The three missions of AZCWR are education, cyber intel and advocating for the cyber security community.
The co-founders for AZCWR are Phoenix residents Brett Scott and Raymond Ramirez, who started the organization in 2012.
Two years later, they opened their first range called AZ01 in Phoenix and later AZ02. AZ01 and AZ02 no longer are operational. The only operational range for AZCWR is AZ03, otherwise known as the Pima Range.
The range is located on the East Campus in Room E2-201. It’s a converted classroom with four sets of two tables, each with four computers. The server room for both the Pima’s Information Technology Club and AZCWR is a converted storage closet for the classroom that originally was there.
Pima and the AZCWR are partnering for this project. Pima is providing the space and power for the range, and AZCWR provides the volunteers to run it.
“Pima IT Center of Excellence is a place where students can dramatically change their lives for the better,” said Will McCullen, academic director of Information Technology.
People can wander into AZ03 and participant in the inner workings of the range, or become volunteers for the Arizona Cyber Warfare Range.
AZCWR is volunteer based, which averages at least 100 people. The Pima range currently has 11 volunteers, but the range could use more.
The head of the Pima range is Jerry Keely. He joined AZCWR in 2015. The types of decisions he makes for the range are for the long-term training at the range.
“I was very impressed and this is exactly where this college needs to go in terms of training students for the high-tech workplace,” said Pima Board member Mark Hanna at the Feb. 7 Board of Governors Meeting.