Courtesy Photo | New York National Guard cyber protection experts Capt. Andrew Carter, the information...... read more read more
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BRASILA, Brazil -- When the Brazilian Cyber Defense Command showcased itself to representatives of 15 nations on August 18 as part of its Cyber Guardian Exercise, two New York Army National Guard Soldiers represented the United States.
Capt. Andrew Carter, the information systems officer for the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters battalion, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nefertiti Stokes, a member of the 173rd Cyber Protection Team (CPT), spent three days with Brazilian computer security excerpts in Brasilia, the country’s capital.
The visit was conducted as part of the State Partnership Program relationship the New York National Guard has had with Brazilian armed forces since March of 2019.
Their role, Carter said, was to determine what types of cyber operations training the New York National Guard’s computer security experts could conduct with their Brazilian counterparts.
Both Carter and Stokes work daily in computer-related fields when they are not drilling with their units.
Carter works full-time for the New York National Guard’s information section, or G-6. Stokes is a civilian employee of the Marine Corps working in computer security full-time when she is not on duty with the joint New York-New Jersey cyber team.
Brazil’s Ministry of Defense’s Cyber Defense Center – or Defenso de Defesa Cibernetico (CDCiber) in Portuguese— overwatches cyber security across all sectors.
What they learned, Carter said, is that Brazil relies on its military computer security specialists to protect both military information systems and those of Brazilian civilian industry professionals.
This is very similar to U.S. Cyber Command’s emphasis on keeping military networks safe from computer attacks as well as critical infrastructure across the nation, Carter said.
The difference, Carter said, is that because Brazil does not have Nation Guard equivalent, the Brazilians have full time military personnel working with civilian cyber professionals to deal with cyber threats.
The US relies on full time personnel as well as people like Stokes, who work in the cyber security as a civilian, to put their civilian-acquired knowledge to work, Carter said.
The three-day visit gave the two New Yorkers a chance to see different facets of Brazil’s communications and signals effort, Carter said.
On the first day they visited Brazil’s equivalent of the U.S. Army Signal School at Fort Gordon, Georgia, Carter said.
He was impressed and amazed to find out the Brazilians were still teaching the use of Morse code to encrypt messages, Carter said.
The U.S. Army stopped teaching the dots and dashes of Morse Code in 2015. But the Brazilians see this as another form of secure communications, using the code to transmit sets of numbers that make up encrypted messages, Carter said.
On the second day of the visit, Carter and Stokes took part in the Cyber Guardian Exercise Distinguished Visitor’s Day.
The Brazilians put on a demonstration, using the model of regional and urban infrastructure—to include dams and power grids—to demonstrate how a cyber-attack could stop industry and transportation.
Stokes and Carter had prepared a New York National Guard cyber capabilities briefing for the third day.
Their Brazilian hosts were very pleased to find out that many of the same operational frameworks used by the CPT are very similar to what was being taught at CDCiber, he said.
They were intrigued by the idea of people with constantly updated civilian skills working on cyber security issues, Carter added.
The Brazilians expressed an interest in learning more about how the New York National Guard conducts cyber operations, Carter said.
There could also be an opportunity for New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen to attend a two-week cyber operations school taught by the Brazilians, he said.
| Date Taken: | 08.31.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.01.2022 10:11 |
| Story ID: | 428478 |
| Location: | BRASILIA , BR |
| Hometown: | LATHAM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 267 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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