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Cyber Shield brings together the military, governmental and nongovernmental agencies and the private sector to better fend off ‘cyber bullets’
By Sgt. Nathan Baker
128th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Utah Army National Guard
CAMP WILLIAMS, UT. – There are “cyber bullets” flying at the United States and its critical infrastructure every day and the Colorado Army National Guard’s Lt. Col. Brad Rhodes is taking a leading role in blocking them.
Rhodes is the officer-in-charge of the Army National Guard’s Cyber Shield 21. The Army National Guard’s Cyber Shield exercise is the U.S. Department of Defense’s largest unclassified cyber exercise with more than 800 participants in a hybrid environment. The exercise runs July 10-24 this year. U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers, Navy Sailors, Coast Guard, Army and Air National Guard members and civilians from across the country are participating in the exercise.
“Cyber defense is exciting because our cyber warriors engage with the adversaries every day,” Rhodes said.
"We are truly doing cyber defense. We are defending networks today - whether we are doing it in our civilian capacity or military capacity,” said Rhodes, who as a civilian is the Head of Cybersecurity for zvelo, Inc., based in Denver’s suburbs. “Threat actors are regularly trying to break into networks where they are trying to do bad things. We are patently standing in the gap, and stopping them."
Rhodes has participated in Cyber Shield for six years with varying roles. In 2014 he led Colorado’s “blue team” that participated in the exercise. With the exception of being deployed one year, since then he has taken a more active role in planning and executing the exercise. He has served as deputy officer-in-charge, the head of the gold (on-range support team), the opposing force information operations team lead, and finally lead the entire exercise this year.
In addition to his civilian and military career, he teaches graduate school and has three children. “There is a direct tie in what I do in the civilian career and what I do here in the National Guard,” he said .
Rhodes has been working in cybersecurity for the Army for nearly 24 years and it has taken him all over the world from Fort Gordon, Georgia to Venezeula to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes knows the technical side was well as the operational side,” said Command Sgt. Maj. James Kober of the South Carolina Army National Guard, Cyber Shield’s sergeant major. “He brings a common sense approach on how to do things.”
Rhodes said that the exercise strives to improve each year. The exercise leaders pay close attention to after-action reviews and incorporate feedback in planning the next year’s Cyber Shield. He said the exercise’s realism and standardization have increased over the years he has been involved in its planning and execution.
The result is excellent training for those trying to prevent another SolarWinds attack, or a Colonial Pipeline shutdown or meddling in election systems.
“The training that we need for our military cyber warriors is the same training needed in civilian careers as cybersecurity and information technology professionals,” Rhodes said. “The exercise gives our cyber professionals vital training to defend against these cyber bullets, which are coming at us every day.”
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| Date Taken: | 07.23.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2021 16:08 |
| Story ID: | 401592 |
| Location: | DENVER, CO, US |
| Web Views: | 62 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Colorado National Guard Officer Leads DoD’s Largest Unclassified Cyber Defense Exercise, by SSG Nathan Baker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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