Photo By Jerry Hewitt | Members of the 104th Communications Squadron pose for a group photo at Cyber Yankee...... read more read more
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PEMBROKE, N.H. – The 104th Fighter Wing
recently participated in the 11th annual Cyber Yankee exercise, May 5-16, 2025, at Edward Cross
Training Center, Pembroke, New Hampshire. Run by the National Guard, the exercise hosted
over 300 participants and included joint members across all six military bases.
Cyber Yankee is a premier annual cyber defense exercise led by the National Guard, designed to
enhance the readiness and coordination of military, government, and private sector entities in the
face of evolving cyber threats.
By bringing together cyber professionals from across the Department of Defense, state and
federal agencies, and critical infrastructure sectors, the exercise is effectively able to simulate
real-world cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, such as power grids, water systems, and
communication networks to train participants in effective detection, response, and mitigation
strategies.
In the first week of the exercise, participants received role-specific technical training to help
prepare for the second week, where participants were placed into five joint and multinational
“blue” teams to defend simulated infrastructure networks. “Red” teams were then created to pose
as adversaries conducting the cyber-attack, while the white team acted as observers.
104th communication squadron cyber defense operations specialists Airman First Class Ryan
Dragon and Staff Sgt. Frederick Collins represented the wing by participating in the event for
their first time, acting as the blue team to detect and prevent cyber-attacks.
Following the exercise, Collins highlighted both the benefits and challenges of participating in
the event and emphasized the need to continue training for potential future cyber-threat
scenarios.
“Participating in Cyber Yankee 2025 was a transformative experience for me, both professionally
and personally,” said Collins. “Even with a solid foundation in cybersecurity and all our
preparation leading up to the exercise, such as learning new open-source platforms for network
security monitoring, the initial phase proved to be quite challenging.”
Throughout the exercise, the red team, tasked with implementing simulated cyber-attacks,
continued to challenge the blue team’s defending abilities by introducing increasingly evasive
techniques, requiring the blue team to think fast and act swiftly.
As the exercise progressed, however, Collins grew more confident and effective.
“By incorporating the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of the adversaries into our
defense strategies and collaborating closely with my teammates, we were able to significantly
improve our response posture," said Collins.
The effectiveness of the annual Cyber Yankee exercise is emphasized through the ability for
military members across all branches to work with private entities and corporations. Other
participants included the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marines, and National Guard cyber units from
Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Jersey, along with
private sector and National Guard state partners from Paraguay, the Bahamas, Albania, El
Salvador, Israel, Kenya, and Uruguay.
“A major takeaway from Cyber Yankee was the value of collaboration and knowledge sharing,”
said Collins.
“I had the opportunity to work alongside foreign nationals, including Israeli cyber professionals,
whose perspectives and expertise greatly enriched the experience. The camaraderie and mutual
respect among participants underscored the global nature of cybersecurity and the importance of
international cooperation, and the training also provided different perspectives on problem-
solving in cybersecurity incident response, aligning with my daily responsibilities as a Cyber Defense Operations Specialist at the 104th Fighter Wing.”
| Date Taken: | 05.16.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.05.2025 12:49 |
| Story ID: | 499743 |
| Location: | PEMBROKE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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