The Arkansas National Guard recently held a cyber training exercise at the Little Rock Air Force Base, which involved uncovering potential cybersecurity susceptibilities in critical infrastructure within a simulated city.
Along with members of the state’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard, participants from Arkansas businesses and state and city departments attended the training.
“We know that critical infrastructures are susceptible to a cyberattack,” Scott Terry, associate divisions director at the Texas A&M engineering department’s Cyber Readiness Center, said. “The important role that cyber operators play is so vital, we know we need to help them. The unique training environment helps the participants get some hands-on training that they won’t have the opportunity to get anywhere else.”
Metova Cybercents created the simulated city specifically for the exercise. The virtual environment was a new concept within an existing learning curriculum. The training is part of a six-delivery grant cycle.
“As a whole, building and executing cyber events like this is key to successful cyber operations,” Air Force Maj. Scott Anderson, director of operations for Detachment 1, 189th Operations Group, said. “The class is geared toward people who will benefit seeing this in a controlled environment so they will know how to react in a real-world situation.”