Photo By Joseph Siemandel | Group Photo of the Washington National Guard cyber experts and civilian partners that...... read more read more
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Over the last two weeks, 19 cyber experts from the Washington National Guard participated in Cyber Shield, the Department of Defense’s largest unclassified cyber defense exercise.
“With so much talent around the Pacific Northwest, the Washington National Guard is considered a leader in the cyber security and defense field,” said Major Sameer Puri, Cyber Team Chief and director of Information Management for the Washington Army National Guard. “Our goal was to leverage all of our training, experience and partnerships with private and public sector experts to test our capabilities and make our team stronger.”
Cyber Shield 21 is a concentrated effort to develop, train and exercise cyber forces in the areas of computer network internal defensive measures and cyber incident response. The exercise brings together about 800 of the nation’s top cyber defense professionals from the National Guard and various governmental, nongovernmental and industry partners in a hybrid in-person and online environment.
Puri and his team, along with nine local mission partners participating virtually from Camp Murray, worked together to develop, train, and exercise cyber forces in internal defensive measures and incident response.
“The partnerships are critical to what we are doing here in Washington,” Puri said. “We can train and exercise all we want but we have to develop and maintain the relationships.”
During a visit to the Washington National Guard’s Cyber Shield location, Gen. Daniel Hokanson, Chief, National Guard Bureau noted the importance of partnerships as well.
“The beauty about the Guard is we mix that experience and education into everything that we do, and it is so critical that we continue to work with all of you (our partners),” said Hokanson. “Washington is truly setting the standard nationally.”
The Washington National Guard’s cyber experts have participated in a number of engagements with public partners, including working with a number of public utility districts to identify gaps in cyber security and supporting the Secretary of State’s office with additional security to our state’s election system.
“We are looking at a whole of government approach for cyber defense by expanding and deepening our partnerships,” said Puri. “Success comes by building close relationships and sharing information.”
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 07.23.2021 12:01 |
| Story ID: | 401595 |
| Location: | CAMP MURRAY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 638 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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