The U.S. Cyber Command will conduct large-scale military exercises this week simulating cyber attacks against critical U.S. infrastructure, and the war games will highlight the growing threat posed by foreign states capable of crippling the electrical grid and financial networks through digital attacks.
The exercise, known as Cyber Guard 16, is the latest annual war game involving scores of military personnel and civilians at the Fort Meade-based command. Other players will include officials from the Pentagon, FBI, Homeland Security Department, and private industry.
“Cyber Guard offers a fascinating, realistic (but not predictive) scenario of a cyber attack of significant consequence on U.S. critical infrastructure,” Maj. Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of the command’s National Mission Force, said last week.
Nakasone, whose mission team is tasked with defending military networks, also is in charge of the military unit that would be called in to counter and respond to a cyber attack on elements of critical infrastructure.
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