  Cyber situational awareness has been proven to be of value in forming a
comprehensive understanding of threats and vulnerabilities within
organisations, as the degree of exposure is governed by the prevailing levels
of cyber-hygiene and established processes. A more accurate assessment of the
security provision informs on the most vulnerable environments that necessitate
more diligent management. The rapid proliferation in the automation of
cyber-attacks is reducing the gap between information and operational
technologies and the need to review the current levels of robustness against
new sophisticated cyber-attacks, trends, technologies and mitigation
countermeasures has become pressing. A deeper characterisation is also the
basis with which to predict future vulnerabilities in turn guiding the most
appropriate deployment technologies. Thus, refreshing established practices and
the scope of the training to support the decision making of users and
operators. The foundation of the training provision is the use of Cyber-Ranges
(CRs) and Test-Beds (TBs), platforms/tools that help inculcate a deeper
understanding of the evolution of an attack and the methodology to deploy the
most impactful countermeasures to arrest breaches. In this paper, an evaluation
of documented CR and TB platforms is evaluated. CRs and TBs are segmented by
type, technology, threat scenarios, applications and the scope of attainable
training. To enrich the analysis of documented CR and TB research and cap the
study, a taxonomy is developed to provide a broader comprehension of the future
of CRs and TBs. The taxonomy elaborates on the CRs/TBs different dimensions, as
well as, highlighting a diminishing differentiation between application areas.
