ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Members of the West Michigan Cyber Security Consortium (WMCSC) will participate in a cybersecurity demonstration on the Michigan Cyber Range on July 24, 2013. Simulating a real-life cyber incident response, the training exercise will challenge participants to detect and thwart cyber attacks on critical information systems.
The demonstration will take place in two Michigan cities, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, using the infrastructure of Mert Network and the Michigan Cyber Range. WMCSC members at Grand Valley State University’s DeVos Center will act as the Blue Team and will be responsible for defending information systems from cyber attacks. The staff of the Michigan Cyber Range at Merit Network in Ann Arbor will act as the Red Team, the aggressors conducting the cyber attacks.
During the practice exercise, the Blue Team will defend the simulated information systems of a public library, a small company, and a town hall of a mock community called Alphaville. Each virtual location represents a different level of security, from the low security of a public library’s web site to the medium security of a town hall’s internal and external systems. Blue team members will be challenged to secure and defend email servers, web servers, and file systems from waves of cyber attacks created by the Red Team.
“We’re really excited to create and conduct this event for WMCSC,” said Joe Adams, vice president of research and cyber security at Merit Network. “It has been a great creative opportunity to put the scenario together. I’m looking forward to seeing the how the blue team handles the challenges. I’m sure it will be a great learning experience for everyone.”
The training exercise will enable WMCSC members to test their skills and teamwork in real-life situations. At the conclusion, WMCSC members will have an after-action review to discuss what went well and what didn’t during the hands-on exercise.
“We have been looking forward to this event since the Cyber Range was announced last Fall,” said Barbara Hiemstra, co-chairperson for WMCSC and the deputy director of technology for Kent County. “It will be a great opportunity for the Blue team and the WMCSC members to walk through a real-time hack; then apply incident response techniques to combat these attacks.”
The Michigan Cyber Range enables individuals and companies to practice their cybersecurity skills through scheduled exercises on the range and through certification training courses. Organizations can utilize the staff of the Michigan Cyber Range for the custom training exercises, or they may rent the range for private training, using the Merit Secure Sandbox. Organizations that are interested in having their cybersecurity team train in team exercises with the Michigan Cyber Range’s red team can contact [email protected] to schedule a time. For more details, visit the Michigan Cyber Range web site at: www.merit.edu/cyberrange/
The cybersecurity event on July 24 is open to the public, but space is limited. The event will happen at DeVos Lecture Hall 138-E inside the Richard M. DeVos Center, at 401 West Fulton in Grand Rapids. Individuals must RSVP by July 19, 2013.
About West Michigan Cyber Security Consortium
The West Michigan Cyber Security Consortium (WMCSC) is a multi-jurisdictional, public/private partnership whose purpose is to enhance the prevention, protection, response and recovery to cyber security threats, disruptions, and degradation to critical information technology functions. Its membership includes individuals from government, health care, law enforcement, and private businesses. The group meets quarterly to share information around cyber security issues.
About Michigan Cyber Range
The Michigan Cyber Range was developed in partnership with the State of Michigan to provide organizations with an unclassified, secure cybersecurity environment that can be used for training exercises, security applications, software testing, and educational purposes. It is hosted and facilitated by Merit Network and is sponsored by DTE Energy. The Range prepares cybersecurity professionals to detect, prevent and mitigate cyberattacks in a real-world setting, providing simulations that test the detection and reaction skills of participants in a variety of situations. The Michigan Cyber Range also offers certification courses for a number of cybersecurity disciplines, with instruction available on-site and live online. A full training schedule may be found at the Merit Michigan Cyber Range web site: www.merit.edu/cyberrange/
About Merit Network
Merit Network Inc., is a nonprofit corporation owned and governed by Michigan’s public universities. Merit owns and operates America’s longest-running regional research and education network. In 1966, Michigan’s public universities created Merit as a shared resource to help meet their common need for networking assistance. Since its formation, Merit Network has remained on the forefront of research and education networking expertise and services. Merit provides high-performance networking and IT solutions to Michigan’s public universities, colleges, K-12 organizations, libraries, state government, healthcare, and other non-profit organizations.
For more information: www.merit.edu
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