Photo By Staff Sgt. Melanie L. Nolen | U.S. Air Force Airmen with the California Air National Guard’s 261st Cyberspace...... read more read more
VAN NUYS, Calif. -- In a sea of blue-lit monitors and interconnected laptops, a mix of seasoned and novice cyber operators came together as a team to conduct battle drills and develop checklists to conduct cyber-defense exercises during Cyber Shield 2020.
The California Air National Guard’s 261st Cyberspace Operations Squadron participated as a cyber defense team in this year’s Cyber Shield, September 12-27, at Sepulveda Air National Guard Station in Van Nuys, California.
Units from across the United States gathered both in person and virtually to participate in the annual defense-focused Army National Guard exercise this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The mission of Cyber Shield is to develop, train, and exercise cyber forces in the areas of computer network internal defensive measures and cyber incident response,” said Wayne V. Hall, National Guard Bureau spokesperson on Aug. 31 in an email to reporters. “These capabilities facilitate National Guard Cyber Teams’ abilities to conduct missions to coordinate, train, and assist federal, state, and industry network owners that are threatened by cyberattack.” Hall told Air Force Magazine.
Cyber Shield 2020 included about 550 participants including Army and Air National Guard members and about 80 industry partners from the civilian sector and local, state, and federal government agencies.
“The work we do during exercises like Cyber Shield helps us work through communication issues between cyber operations and how to respond to cyber threats to the mission partner network, to better strengthen our standard operating procedures to efficiently accomplish the mission,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Utomi, 261st COS cyberthreat analyst.
Working together during an exercise like Cyber Shield not only helps to accomplish the mission, but it allows opportunities for more seasoned operators to share their knowledge and expertise with newer operators.
Airman 1st Class Curtis Beall, a 261st COS cyber systems operations specialist participating for the first time, said, “The Cyber Shield exercise allows me the opportunity to work with a great team who are always sharing great knowledge and showing me tricks of the trade hard to find elsewhere.”
The Airmen at the 261st welcomed the challenge of a competitive exercise like Cyber Shield 2020, but it was just one of many challenges these Airmen have volunteered for this past year.
“Not only did they participate in excellent cyberspace training like Cyber Shield and Cyber Dawn conducted earlier this year, 261st members also successfully mobilized on a 6-month deployment with USCYBERCOM then rolled right into defending the State of California,” said Maj. Sumeet Sharma, 261st COS director of operations. “By volunteering for the California Cybersecurity Integration Center’s mission, members of the 261st provided cybersecurity intelligence and operational support in the fight against current cyberspace threats.”
In addition to their cyberspace training and deployments, many unit members served in non-cyberspace capacities in response to the state’s call for extra manning.
“When the State of California sounded the call for Guardsmen to support the state during the coronavirus pandemic, the 261st answered,” said Sharma. “More than 50% of the unit was activated as part of non-cyberspace missions providing logistical and administrative support for food banks, civil support and medical testing.”
Whether behind the scenes or on the front lines, the Airmen of the 261st are willing and able to support both national defense and the communities they live in.
| Date Taken: | 09.29.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.14.2020 11:56 |
| Story ID: | 380848 |
| Location: | VAN NUYS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 609 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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