Photo By Staff Sgt. Matthew Ard | U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mark Thompson, a member of the South Carolina...... read more read more
CAMP WILLIAMS, UTAH—Soldiers and civilian mission partners from South Carolina came together here to learn to identify and neutralize cyber threats as part of Exercise Cyber Shield 17, April 24 to May 5, 2017.
Cyber Shield is an annual National Guard exercise held in cooperation with the U.S. Army Reserve that is designed to conduct defensive cyber operations training and assess the capability of Guard cyber defense units.
The South Carolina National Guard is committed to strengthening network cyber security and developing National Guard capabilities to respond to cyber incidents and is working closely with interagency partners and the private sector to strengthen network cybersecurity and capabilities to support local responses to cyber incidents.
Soldiers must continually train in cyber security, where the threats change often, according to exercise participants.
“The threats change so fast we have to improve and adapt every year,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mark Thompson, an embedded observer at the exercise.
Cyber Shield 17 is part of the National Guard’s ongoing effort to improve Guard readiness to respond to real-world cyber incidents.
“In case of an emergency we have prior planning with the relationships built here, which makes us more efficient,” said, Lt. Col. John Edwards, command judge advocate. “We give rules for use in cyber and the legal limits of what an operator can and can’t do. It is similar to rules for use in domestic operations; however, in cyber we are exclusively focused on defending the network.”
The importance of the JAG officers and staying within the law is important to soldiers in cybersecurity.
“Cyber law is central to Cyber Shield to have written legal agreements to let us work on private servers… The goal is to get people used to looking at state law,” said Lt. Col. Chris Barton, chief of operational law. “The National Guard has complimented my civilian job. I can help advise the city of Rock Hill, South Carolina, on a municipal level.”
The experience and training of the South Carolina National Guard helps the Soldiers not only in their military duties but also in civilian careers.
“The Guard enabled me to pivot what I wanted to do in cybersecurity,” said Maj. (Ret.) Robert Gresham, retired Maj. from the South Carolina National Guard and Intro to Cyber Threat Analysis Instructor. “Cyber Shield is an excellent exercise for training troops on how to coordinate as a team for regional and non-regional missions.”
Cyber remains an important part of Soldiers’ careers in the National Guard.
“I have been in the South Carolina National Guard for 23 years and cyber is the only reason I am still in the Guard,” said Thompson.
| Date Taken: | 05.04.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2017 15:20 |
| Story ID: | 232635 |
| Location: | SOUTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 215 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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