SimSpace Wins Prestigious Multi-Year Cyber Florida Contract to Spearhead the State's Cybersecurity Preparedness

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Feb 06, 2024, 10:00 ET

BOSTON, Feb. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, SimSpace, the global leader in military-grade cyber ranges, has been awarded a first-of-its-kind, multi-year contract by The Florida Center for Cybersecurity at the University of South Florida, also known as Cyber Florida. The state's vote of confidence in SimSpace's Cyber Force Platform will provide nation-state-level security capabilities, developed by US Cyber Command, to stress test, to make stronger and to make more effective Florida's one million state and local employees, agencies, institutions and critical infrastructure companies. The collaboration will enable Florida to withstand and respond to increasingly severe cyber events and become a standard-bearer for cybersecurity excellence at the State level in the U.S.

Cybercrime will cost the world over $10.5 trillion in 2024, and poses an existential threat to the integrity of all critical national infrastructure in Florida. SimSpace's cyber range technology will provide Machine-Learning-driven, evidence-based data and high-fidelity learning and practice environments to increase the cyber governance and accountability of Florida's $1.4-trillion economy.

The contract, secured through funding from the Florida State Legislature, will help enhance the operational preparedness of Florida's most vital institutions, companies and law enforcement entities. This cutting-edge technology goes beyond offering advanced practice environments; it facilitates collaborative exercises for complex and vital agencies, utilities (including electric and water) and the entire state's apparatus (including fostering ever stronger moves to ensure election integrity). Through interoperable exercise capabilities that include elements from the highest of our digital economic infrastructure all the way to enhancing how we protect the pumps and valves on which the citizens of Florida depend every day, the platform will foster collaboration between public and private sector entities and utilize extensive structured training libraries of material.

"This sets a national precedent of excellence for state- and local-level infrastructure to anticipate many of the tactics of cyber attackers who want to cripple our institutions, organizations and citizens," said SimSpace CEO William "Hutch" Hutchison. "For years, our national cyber defense teams, major banks and critical infrastructure companies have relied on SimSpace's high-fidelity replicas of their production environments to align their people, processes and technology. In one action, Cyber Florida is now extending this unparalleled capability to help safeguard the entire state in a cyber war that is fast transcending geographical boundaries."

"Harnessing SimSpace's cutting-edge cyber range capabilities, honed by the US military, will elevate Florida to high levels of cybersecurity education and team training excellence," said Dr. Bruce Caulkins, Cyber Florida's Range Manager. He continued, "We are looking forward to collaborating with SimSpace over many years, enabling Florida to be a national leader of how to make cybersecurity principles more pervasive across all sectors, how to make all of our institutions stronger, and how to engage with our national cybersecurity and law enforcement teams to make Florida an effective part of Team USA."

"Cyber Florida particularly wants to thank the Florida State Legislature for its far-sighted view of cyber risk, and the extensive resources that have enabled the state to go beyond rudimentary training techniques," said Cyber Florida Executive Director General (Ret.) Frank McKenzie. He went on to say, "These dedicated resources have now enabled Cyber Florida to assemble a critical mass of capability to elevate the level of training and cybersecurity skills across the region. We are the first state in the nation to exercise this level of proactive cybersecurity leadership, marking an unprecedented effort to better secure our citizens, critical infrastructure, and private companies in an environment of heightened cyber threat."

About SimSpace

SimSpace the global leader in military-grade cyber ranges, founded by experts from U.S. Cyber Command and MIT's Lincoln Laboratory to respond to a new era of unprecedented cyber threats. Having raised $70 million in funding over the past year, the company's Cyber Force Platform enables the most sophisticated enterprises, governments, and critical national infrastructure organizations to find intelligence-driven answers to the most vexing security, governance, training, and cyber readiness questions. SimSpace provides high-fidelity cyber security simulations, training, and safe live-fire exercises to Fortune 2000 financial, retail, insurance, and other commercial markets. SimSpace's Cyber Force Platform results in an average reduction in cyber operational costs of 30% and a 40% reduction in breaches.

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