Five Ways to Build Cyber Readiness
Each exercise family represents a fundamentally different training modality — from individual skill challenges to executive crisis decision-making.
CTF Challenges
Compete. Solve. Prove.
- Per-participant HMAC dynamic flags — no answer sharing
- Jeopardy mode with 12 challenge domains and weighted scoring
- Guided mode with step-by-step objectives and adaptive hints
- Real-time leaderboards, team scoring, and skill gap analytics
Use cases: Individual assessments, hiring challenges, university courses, team competitions.
At a Glance
Individual / Team
1 hr - 48 hrs
1 - 200
Points + Time
Adaptive Hints
Battle Stations (CDX)
Defend. Detect. Respond.
- Realistic infrastructure — Active Directory, SIEM, IDS, firewalls, mail servers
- Automated adversary simulation with configurable kill chains
- Service availability scoring — defenders must keep services running
- Inject engine for scenario escalation (news feeds, phishing waves, insider threats)
Use cases: SOC team readiness, incident response drills, compliance exercises (RBI, CERT-In).
At a Glance
Blue Team
4 hrs - 5 days
4 - 30
Availability + Detection
Auto Attack Sim
Wargames (ADX)
Attack vs Defense. Live Fire.
- Simultaneous Red vs Blue teams on shared, isolated infrastructure
- NATO-style live-fire format with full umpire and scoring tooling
- Up to 20 concurrent team pairs with independent arenas
- MTTD, MTTR, and kill-chain coverage metrics for both sides
Use cases: National cyber exercises, military readiness assessments, red team certification.
At a Glance
Red + Blue Teams
1 - 5 days
8 - 40 per pair
MTTD/MTTR + KillChain
Umpire Assist
Training Courses (TLX)
Learn. Practice. Master.
- Guided progression with 11+ content block types (text, code, terminal, quiz, video)
- Per-objective HMAC flags with completion mode (flag, auto-check, manual)
- Adaptive difficulty and AI-powered contextual hints
- NICE Framework and MITRE ATT&CK skill mapping per objective
Use cases: Onboarding programs, university labs, self-paced certification prep, skills gap remediation.
At a Glance
Individual Learner
30 min - 8 hrs
1
Progress + Mastery
Adaptive Hints + Feedback
Crisis Simulator
Decide. Lead. Survive.
- AI NPC stakeholders (CEO, Legal, Media, Board) with distinct personalities
- Branching scenario trees with 5 execution modes (solo, team, tabletop, inject-driven, AI-led)
- Leadership Readiness Score with 8 competency dimensions
- Air-gapped dual-mode — works fully offline with local LLM fallback
Use cases: Executive tabletop exercises, C-suite readiness, board-level cyber governance training.
At a Glance
Executives / Leaders
2 - 8 hrs
1 - 15
Leadership Readiness
AI NPC Stakeholders
See Each Family in Action
Real product screenshots from live exercise instances.
Individual and team challenges with dynamic scoring.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Choose the right exercise family for your training objective.
| Family | Audience | Duration | Team Size | Scoring Model | AI Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CTF Challenges | Individual / Team | 1 hr - 48 hrs | 1 - 200 | Points + Time | Adaptive Hints |
Battle Stations | Blue Team | 4 hrs - 5 days | 4 - 30 | Availability + Detection | Auto Attack Sim |
Wargames | Red + Blue Teams | 1 - 5 days | 8 - 40 per pair | MTTD/MTTR + KillChain | Umpire Assist |
Training Courses | Individual Learner | 30 min - 8 hrs | 1 | Progress + Mastery | Adaptive Hints + Feedback |
Crisis Simulator | Executives / Leaders | 2 - 8 hrs | 1 - 15 | Leadership Readiness | AI NPC Stakeholders |
Build Your First Exercise
See how Critical Range deploys a fully functional exercise arena — complete with infrastructure, scoring, and AI — in under 10 minutes.