# A Systematic Review of Cyber Range Taxonomies: Trends, Gaps, and a Proposed Taxonomy
## 3 Proposed Taxonomy
### Environment  
The _Environment_ dimension refers to the technical and operational context in which scenarios are executed. Across the literature, this was variously labeled as _Training Environment_[13], _Technical Setup_, or simply _Type_[12]. Despite this terminological variation, the underlying concept consistently focused on replicating realistic conditions for cyber exercises. We followed [PERSON] et al. [11] in subsuming _Attack Type_ under the _Environment_ dimension, since attacks are configured and enacted as part of the scenario's technical context. As such, we did not include _Attack Type_ as a separate top-level dimension in our taxonomy. The _Environment_ dimension encompassed the components that enable a scenario to run and behave realistically. We organized this dimension into two main characteristics, as shown in Table 5.  
While the _Management_ dimension governed _when_ and _how_ these elements were triggered, _Environment_ addressed the _what_--the underlying technical means that made scenario execution possible. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{p{56.9 pt} p{113.8 pt} p{113.8 pt}} \hline \hline
**Characteristic** & **Sub-Characteristic** & **Description** & **Refs** \\ \hline Storyline & - & Sequence of incidents (e.g., data disclosure, DDoS, system manipulation) that structure the exercise narrative. & [12; 53] \\ \hline Purpose & Collaboration, Awareness, Skill & High-level intent of the scenario; collaboration is rarely mentioned, while awareness and skill development are common. & Own analysis \\ \hline Scenario Type & Dynamic, Static, Security Testing, Experimentation, Education & Typology of scenarios based on structure and objectives. & Own analysis \\ \hline Tools & - & Collection of hardware and software components used to simulate real-world environments. & [54] \\ \hline Domain & - & Technological scope of the scenario, like IoT, SCADA, Forensics, Web Security & [55] \\ \hline Sector & - & Industry context in which the scenario is applied, for example, Energy, Maritime, Defence & [56; 57; 58] \\ \hline Gamification & - & Competitive and game-like elements embedded into scenario design. & [59; 60; 61] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Characteristics of _Scenario_ dimension. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{p{56.9 pt} p{113.8 pt} p{113.8 pt} p{113.8 pt}} \hline \hline
**Characteristic** & **Sub-Characteristic** & **Description** & **Refs** \\ \hline Environment Type & Simulation & A simplified representation of a system designed to mimic general behaviors. & [22] \\ \hline Environment Type & Emulation & A more detailed replication including real software or hardware to reflect operational systems. & [4; 22] \\ \hline Environment Type & Hybrid & A combined setup using both simulated and emulated components. & [22] \\ Environment Type & Physical & A tangible and often lab-based infrastructure used to mimic real-world systems. & [20; 23; 24] \\ \hline Environment Type & Hardware & Uses physical devices such as routers and switches for realism. & [25] \\ \hline Environment Type & Federation & Links multiple cyber ranges to create distributed or large-scale testbeds. & [21] \\ \hline Generation Tools & Traffic Generation & Produces background or simulated user activity (e.g., HTTP requests, clicks, logs). & [14; 15; 16] \\ \hline Generation Tools & Attack Generation & Automates or simulates known real-world attacks such as Stuxnet or Havex. & [17; 18] \\ \hline Generation Tools & User Emulation & Simulates typical user activity to produce background noise or interaction patterns. & [19; 20; 21] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 5: Characteristics of _Environment_ dimension. Econometrics  
The _Econometrics_ dimension addresses the financial and economic aspects of cyber-attacks and defensive measures. While less frequently cited in the cyber range literature, it was explicitly discussed in works by [PERSON] et al. [12] and [PERSON] et al. [62].