HSL: a Cyber Security Research Facility for Sensitive Data Experiments

In this paper, we detail the design of a cybersecurity facility to carry reproducible and long term research activities in a safe environment, including malware collection and analysis, network telescopes and honeypots, or hosting critical services, without worrying about side effects or loss of data. The facility, aka High Security Lab (HSL), is running since 2010, and is widely used by multiple research groups to carry sensitive data cybersecurity experiments. It includes an evolving infrastructure with tools and processes for building and running long-term and reproducible cyber security experiments. We report on our experience and lessons learned from the design, the setup and the evolution of this facility during 10 years while focusing on major cybersecurity experiments that have been conducted by researchers.