Maryland Leader For Cyber Security, With New Range Center

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A first of its kind cyber security system in the entire country is ready to go in Baltimore.

Officials say the move paves the way for Maryland to lead in cyber security. It's among the fastest growing crimes in America.

Trying to tackle cyber crimes takes special skills, now being taught here in Baltimore.

"This system allows them to do things in a safe and sequestered manner that they can't do on their systems at work," says Mike Doyle, with the Baltimore Cyber Range.

The new $250,000 Baltimore cyber range gives teams hands-on training in real-world scenarios to keep pace with the number of growing online security threats.

"We feel are the highest levels of cyber security types to better address the threats in real time," says Bruce Spector, with Electronic Technology Associates.

The special training is critical to public and private companies.

Experts say the training taught will help companies, consumers, credit cards and more, when hackers strike.

The center is the first of it's kind in the entire country.

"We are the first cyber bit system here in this country. There's a system in the far east, and there are a couple of systems in europe," says Mike Doyle wih the Range.

Governor Larry Hogan announced the creation of the center during a trade mission to Israel last summer.

"Governor Hogan had us talk about bringing it to Baltimore he was very high on bringing it to the city because he saw a way of training an unskilled workforce in cybersecurity using that technology."

Experts Say the move now puts Maryland at the forefront of cyber security.

Owners of cyberbit say the company is seeing demand for cybersecurity training from both private and public companies.