The IWAR range: a laboratory for undergraduate information assurance education

This paper describes a unique resource at West Point, the Information Analysis and Research Laboratory, referred to as the IWAR range. The IWAR range is an isolated laboratory used by undergraduate students and faculty researchers. The IWAR is a production-system-like, heterogeneous environment. The IWAR has become a vital part of the Information Assurance curriculum at West Point. We use the military range analogy to teach the students in the class that the exploits and other tools used in the laboratory are weapons and should be treated with the same care as rifles and grenades. This paper describes the structure of the laboratory and how it is used in classroom instruction. It also describes the process used to create the IWAR and how an IWAR might be built using limited resources. Finally, this paper describes the future directions of the IWAR project.