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NEWS | July 23, 2021

Pa. National Guard members participate in DoD cyber defense exercise

By JFHQ Public Affairs

Eight cyber experts from the Pennsylvania National Guard recently participated in Cyber Shield, the Department of Defense’s largest unclassified cyber defense exercise.

Cyber Shield 21, which was held July 10 to 23, was a concentrated effort to develop, train and exercise cyber forces in the areas of computer network internal defensive measures and cyber incident response. It brings together about 800 of the nation’s top cyber defense professionals from National Guard Soldiers and Airmen to various governmental, nongovernmental and industry partners in a hybrid in-person and online environment.

"The Pennsylvania Army National Guard's Cyber Team has participated in the Cyber Shield training exercise every year since it began back in 2013. This year the team chose to participate in a non-traditional way by taking leadership roles to build the exercise cyber range, lead network owners, and augment other efforts such as red team, fusion, and help desk operations,” said Maj. Christine Pierce, cyber team chief for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Defensive Cyber Operations Element, and a resident of Palmyra, Pennsylvania. “Our goal was to leverage our team's deep exercise history and technical expertise to enhance Cyber Shield for everyone."

The Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s cyber warriors were part of the exercise’s leadership and core staff.

“Cyber incidents are an ongoing and substantial threat in 2021; America's power plants, food supply, water supply, health care, law enforcement and defense sectors have all come under attack,” said Army Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, during a media roundtable on June 29. He continued, “These cyber threats extend our adversaries' reach across borders and time zones and it could have devastating consequences.”

There have been attacks or attempted attacks in every U.S. state. Though the National Guard response isn’t needed for every attack, cyber defense experts stress the importance of planning and training together.

“Cyber Shield is special because it integrates all levels of government and utilities, high-tech industry, law enforcement and other partners. It has been described as kind of like a pick-up basketball game where the teams choose their best players, both in the military and outside the military, and bring them along,” said Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, a master cyberspace officer and the Adjutant General of Illinois.

Since 2016, the Pa. Guard cyber branch has partnered with the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security and expanded to working with private, colleges and universities, and a range of agencies at the local, state and federal levels to provide a variety of defensive cyber support. Pa. cyber branch assists these entities by protecting their networks from malicious attacks from ransomware, spyware, phishing, and more.