The Cyber Storm exercise is a biennial

simulated A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

exercise overseen by the United States

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

that took place February 6 through February 10, 2006 with the purpose of testing the nation's defenses against digital espionage.Fact Sheet: Cyber Storm Exercise
(

). Accessed February 1, 2008. The simulation was targeted primarily at American security organizations but officials from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand participated as well.

Cyber Storm I

The first Cyber Storm exercise took place February 6 through February 10, 2006 with the purpose of testing the nation's defenses against digital espionage.

Simulation

The exercise simulated a large scale attack on critical digital infrastructure such as

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, and

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. The simulation took place a series of incidents which included: * Washington, D.C. Metro trains mysteriously shutting down. *

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revealing locations of railcars containing hazardous materials. *The airport control towers of

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and Chicago mysteriously shutting down. *A mysterious liquid appearing on a London subway. *Significant numbers of people on "no fly" lists suddenly appearing at airports all over the nation. *Planes flying too close to the

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. *Water utilities in Los Angeles getting compromised.

Internal difficulties

During the exercise the computers running the simulation came under attack by the players themselves. Heavily censored files released to the

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reveal that at some time during the exercise the organizers sent every one involved an

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marked "IMPORTANT!" telling the participants in the simulation not to attack the game's control computers.

Performance of participants

The Cyber Storm exercise highlighted the gaps and shortcomings of the nation's cyber defenses. The cyber storm exercise report found that institutions under attack had a hard time getting the bigger picture and instead focused on single incidents treating them as "individual and discrete". In light of the test the Department of Homeland Security raised concern that the relatively modest resources assigned to cyber-defense would be "overwhelmed in a real attack".

Cyber Storm II

Cyber Storm II was an international cyber security exercise sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2008. The week-long exercise was centered in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

and concluded on March 15.

Cyber Storm III

Cyber Storm III was an international cyber security exercise sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2010. The week-long exercise was centered in Washington, DC and concluded on October 1.Ian Grant
"Cyber Storm III"
/ref>

References

{{Reflist 2006 in computing Computer security United States Department of Homeland Security