Florida National Guard Cyber Security Team helps safeguard State Agencies

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Carmen Fleischmann | Army Sgt. 1st Class Lazingo Palmer, a Defense Cyber Operations Element NCO, observes network traffic monitored by state partners during the 2017 Cyber Security Exercise in Tallahassee. Participants of the course used their extensive training and tools of the DCOE to actively look for, report and mitigate cyber security threats during this week-long training event.  

TALLAHASSEE, FL, UNITED STATES

08.17.2017

Story by Staff Sgt. Carmen Fleischmann 

Florida National Guard Public Affairs Office

TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Every government agency depends on information technology to carry out day-to-day business. Budget requests, payroll information, even historical archives are maintained and managed through a network. If that network is attacked or compromised, the results can be catastrophic.
Just as the Florida National Guard protects and defends the citizens of the state of Florida from domestic threats, they also play a role in protecting their information. This week, information technology specialists and managers from 15 various state agencies attended the 2017 Cyber Security Exercise hosted by the FLNG Defense Cyber Operations Element (DCOE). For one week, attendees who are subject matter experts in their field got a chance to respond to cyber attacks in a controlled environment and learn how to better safeguard their networks.
“The training gives us a chance to actually put into practice, with hands-on activities, what we learn about the job. We get to see some things we might not see otherwise that helps us to prepare for potential threats,” said Mike Sodders, an Information Security Manager for Florida Executive Agency. “It’s a really great program.”
Through a mobile network center, the DCOE creates a virtual environment that mimics the type of network that state partners are familiar with managing. Inside a classroom environment, the attendees monitor traffic, look for vulnerabilities and respond to attacks that are simulated by the DCOE instructors. Throughout the training, the state agencies get constant feedback on how they mitigated threats and discuss ways to reduce vulnerabilities in their own home networks.
“Running exercises like this gives them a full simulation of both what normal traffic would look like and malicious traffic and compromise. We’re hoping that the state agencies will maintain their relationship with the National Guard and know what capabilities we can provide. If they ever need anything, they can call and we will be happy to assist,” said Army Capt. Macel Dera, a Cyber Security Engineer with the DCOE.
The next step in the incident response process after detection is notification. For these various state agencies that can mean alerting users, informing supervisors, or reporting the issue to a higher level, which can often be a difficult task when it comes to communicating that information. Another beneficial part of the training is breaking down the tech terminology barrier so all users and supervisors can understand what caused the incident, what the issue means for the organization, and how to prevent it in the future.
“I’m learning how to put some of the technical jargon into layman’s terms,” said Benita Byard-Williams, Information Security Manager for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “With my job I have to walk the fine line between being technical and being able to relay that technical stuff to just regular everyday people, so some of the technical terms that they’re using, I’m able to decipher.”
Currently the FLNG assists the state with information management primarily through holding training summits like this one. However the DCOE is working on a more hands-on approach to cyber terrorism defense, which essentially would be an incident response team that could be called out by an agency partner in the event of a cyber attack or incident.

While still in the early planning stages, this week’s event also serves the purpose of testing that capability and honing the vital skillsets needed by FLNG members who would comprise that response team.
“The skills are hard to obtain. It’s a lot of training, a lot of hard work to obtain the skills to defend a network against cyber attacks,” said Maj. Michael Southerland, the DCOE Team Chief. “It’s very critical that we provide that service because attacks are escalating. As we increase our dependence on internet and IT technology, you’ll see cyber attacks more frequently.”

• Date Taken: 08.17.2017
• Date Posted: 08.22.2017 14:17
• Story ID: 245614
• Location: TALLAHASSEE, FL, US
• Hometown: ST. AUGUSTINE, FL, US