AUGUSTA, ME (05/21/2024) (readMedia)-- Maine National Guard Cyber Operations organizations participated in the 10th annual Cyber Yankee exercise, hosted by the Massachusetts National Guard, at Joint Base Cape Cod, Mass., May 6 to 17, 2024. This significant event provided critical training for the National Guard's Defensive Cyber Teams, enhancing their cyber capabilities, and fostering collaboration with industry partners across the New England region.

Cyber Yankee, recognized as the second largest exercise of its kind globally, evaluates a "whole-of-Government" response to significant cyber incidents involving critical infrastructure that directly affect the American people. Elements of critical infrastructure include gas, electricity, water, and other vital resources that our citizens depend on daily.

Maine is actively developing a Cyber Response Team to collaborate with local, state, and federal government officials in the event of a cyber-attack involving Maine's critical infrastructure and cyber-based resources, said Lt. Col. Steven DeLong, Director of Cyber and Communications, Maine Air National Guard.

"Soldiers and Airmen who are cyber experts not only in the military but in their civilian jobs as drill status guardsmen, play a larger role in the threats we face on a daily basis, now more than ever," said DeLong.

The Maine Cyber Response Team, initially made up of 20 Airmen and Soldiers, displayed their skills in support of Maine's State Partnership Program (SPP) member, Montenegro, during a significant cyber incident in the fall of 2022. The team was activated and in the country within 14 days in an advise and assist role in helping restore Montenegro's critical information systems.

"Cyber Yankee brings not only the technical aspect of simulating 'real world' based cyber incident scenarios in the network test range, but it also evaluates the decision-making process of the leadership roles that make those important calls on how to respond," said DeLong.

The exercise saw extensive collaboration among the Army and Air National Guard, Active and Reserve components of the U.S. military, various levels of government, and civilian industry partners including Avangrid, MIT Lincoln Labs, Booz Allen Hamilton, Security Onion, Eversource, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Teamworx Security, and Palo Alto Networks.

This year, for the first time, members of the U.S. Space Force and international partners were integrated into the exercise alongside National Guard units from ten different states. Uruguay, Cyprus, Kenya, and the Bahamas were among the SPP partners participating, with Israel joining through a bilateral agreement with Massachusetts.

During Cyber Yankee, five "blue" teams of Soldiers and Airmen worked with civilian "orange" teams to defend networks against "red" teams simulating adversarial ransomware attacks. Despite challenges such as internet connectivity and account access issues, the exercise was deemed a success.

"From my interaction with the International Partners and the U.S. government and military personnel, I can say that the event did a great job meeting the training and integration objectives from both perspectives," said 1st Lt. Gordon Smith, International Partner Planning Lead.

Overall, Cyber Yankee underscores the critical role of defensive cyber operations within each state and highlights the National Guard's readiness and capability to execute this unique mission. It also facilitates enhanced security cooperation between industry partners, the Guard, and international allies.

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CY_May_2024_1: Maine National Guard's Brig. Gen. Diane Dunn, The Adjutant General, speaks to participants of the Cyber Yankee exercise at Joint Base Cape Cod, Mass., on May 15, 2024. The exercise included Cyber Operations participants from across military, local, state, and federal government, as well as Maine's State Partnership Program member, Montenegro, and other partner countries. This significant event provided critical training for the National Guard's Defensive Cyber Teams, enhancing their cyber capabilities, and fostering collaboration with industry partners across the New England region. (Maine National Guard Photo)

CY_May_2024_2 & _3: Maine National Guard Cyber Operations organizations participated in the 10th annual Cyber Yankee exercise at Joint Base Cape Cod, Mass., May 6 to 17, 2024, hosted by the Massachusetts National Guard. The exercise included participants from across military, local, state, and federal government, as well as Maine's State Partnership Program member, Montenegro, and other partner countries. This significant event provided critical training for the National Guard's Defensive Cyber Teams, enhancing their cyber capabilities, and fostering collaboration with industry partners across the New England region. (Maine National Guard Photos)

Posted Tuesday May 21, 2024 at 01:52 pm by Tech. Sgt. Sarah Myrick, Maine Air National Guard
Last Updated Wednesday May 22, 2024 at 08:50 am