Inside the FBI’s Alabama Cyber “Ghost Town” Built for Realistic Training

The FBI has built a unique training town in Alabama, called Kinetic Cyber Range, to prepare cyber investigators for real-world attacks. Located on the FBI campus in Huntsville, the mock American town includes furnished houses, a hotel, a gas station, a grocery store, a courthouse, a hospital, a power company, roads, and working traffic lights.

The facility’s systems and equipment are designed to operate like those in a real city, so law enforcement teams can practice complex scenarios beyond classroom theory. In exercises, instructors can launch live cyberattacks inside the controlled environment, such as taking down a hospital power system, while trainees must make decisions under pressure, restore essential services, and protect lives without risking malware leaking onto the public internet.

According to the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report, cybercrime caused $20.9 billion in losses in the United States, up 26% in one year. Ransomware remains one of the biggest threats to critical infrastructure worldwide.

The training site also includes a large data center with more than 200 physical servers. Program managers said the server rooms were built to be cold, cramped, and noisy to closely match conditions investigators face during real hacks. Since opening in February 2025, more than 1,400 investigators have trained there, including FBI personnel and international security partners. Officials say the hands-on exercises help with digital forensics, evidence collection, and dealing with the advanced encryption methods used by cybercriminals.