Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Adler Piersaint | U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the South Carolina National Guard's Defensive Cyber...... read more read more
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RALEIGH, N.C. – The South Carolina National Guard's Defensive Cyber Operations Element (DCOE) and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s (SLED) Critical Infrastructure Cyber (SC-CIC) Team recently partnered for Operation Tobacco Road (OTR), a major cyber security exercise held September 8-12. Hosted by the North Carolina Cyber Security Response Force (CSRF), the event took place at the Cyber Emergency Management Division’s Operations Center in Raleigh.
The training exercise, dubbed Operation Tobacco Road, is a "real-world" style cyber incident response scenario built on lessons learned from previous events. Five "Blue Teams," including South Carolina National Guard's DCOE, were tasked with identifying and mitigating threats from a live "Red Team" in a dynamic enterprise environment. Unlike many exercises that use automated attacks, each Red Team actively conducted live attacks against the Blue Team's network, making the scenarios highly realistic.
To help the Blue Teams, the exercise included a capture-the-flag style event, where solving challenges unlocked hints to assist in threat identification. At the end of each day, a "Purple Hour" brought the teams together to discuss what had transpired, allowing for a collaborative review and deeper understanding of the day's events.
In addition to the main exercise, OTR featured a "Hack The Box" competition. A three-hour capture-the-flag event, it allowed individuals and teams to test their skills. The South Carolina National Guard's team placed fifth overall, while the two members of the SLED's SC-CIC team took home first place.
The exercise achieved notable success for all involved. Members of the South Carolina National Guard were able to establish a strong working relationship with their SLED counterparts, reinforcing effective teamwork in a controlled, low-stress environment. The event provided invaluable experience and strengthened the partnership between the two South Carolina agencies responsible for protecting critical infrastructure.
| Date Taken: | 11.12.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.14.2025 19:14 |
| Story ID: | 551160 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 83 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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