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The Idaho Army National Guard hosted seven states June 4-18 for a regional cyber exercise that provided cyber security assessments to a dozen Idaho agencies.
The exercise, Cyber Discovery, provided a week of cybersecurity training for more than 50 Soldiers and Airmen from the Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming National Guards. During the second week, teams were assigned to provided assessments to the following agencies: the school districts of Blaine County, Caldwell, Fruitland, Melba, Mountain Home, Twin Falls and Vallivue; Gem, Power and Washington counties; Idaho Courts and Idaho Department of Labor.
“This exercise assesses the level of cyber security awareness and implementation across multiple state, local, territorial and tribal agencies throughout Idaho and builds the capability of cyber Soldiers and Airmen in our region,” said Col. Dan Lister, chief of information, Idaho Army National Guard.
The exercise was conducted under the DoD-sponsored Cyber Innovative Readiness Training program. Guardsmen received training from the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency and then assessed a local government agency’s cybersecurity efforts and provided real feedback to the organization for areas to improve or sustain on. Each mission partner received a brief and a 200-page assessment as part of the exercise.
“There’s a benefit for our team to have a mutual third party provide an overview of our controls with regard to cyber security,” said Jennifer Dvorak, chief information security officer for Idaho Courts. “It helps us understand where to focus our energy.”
In addition, the assessment can be used by agencies to apply for grants for additional funding and improvements.
After completing the exercise, participants were able to earn a qualification in Cyber Resiliency Review and External Dependencies Management.
“The training from CISA was invaluable to learn how to properly conduct a cyber resiliency assessment,” said Master Sgt. Eric Wilkens, North Dakota Air National Guard. “The value of the training was taking that training and immediately turning around and utilizing it with a mission partner. We were also able to give back to a community partner, which embraces what the National Guard is all about.”
In addition to the exercise, Idaho Army National Guard cyber Soldiers briefed Idaho Technology Services, the information technology directorate for the Office of the Governor, Wednesday on the results of a recent penetration test. The results provided in-depth detail and analysis that addressed three domains of cybersecurity: reconnaissance, vulnerability finger-printing and limited demonstration of exploit.
“The test itself was unquestionably the most thorough and difficult we’ve endured,” said Jeff Weak, director of ITS. “Not only was it the best to date, the report and out-brief we exceptional, as well. I appreciate all they did for us, and I look forward to working with the Idaho Army National Guard in the future on some of the remediation actions”
The assessment took more than a month to complete and provided the state with more than $500,000 of savings.
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.18.2022 01:31 |
| Story ID: | 423327 |
| Location: | BOISE, IDAHO, US |
| Web Views: | 139 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Cyber Discovery trains National Guardsmen, gives back to communities, by MAJ Robert Taylor, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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