Page 14 - The Dispatch September 2018

Attendees of the Jack Voltaic 2.0 cybersecurity exercise watch a video by a
TEXAS MILITARY DEPARTMENT meteorologist explaining the impending hurricane.
(Photo Courtesy of the City of Houston)

JACK VOLTAIC 2.0 Tests

REAL-WORLD RESPONSE

allowed to explore and complete objectives within the
Commentary By: Sgt. 1st. Class Roland Cisneros range.
Texas Military Department J6
On the second day, we proceeded to the tabletop exercise,
HOUSTON, Texas - In late July, I joined a contingent of Tex- which was built around four turns:
as Army and Air National Guardsmen at the Jack Voltaic
2.0 Cyber Research Project, where we acted as observers. Turn 1: Hurricane Miguel approaches (Prepare and Pre-
We were fortunate the event took place in our own back- vent) – (H-72 hours)
yard—Houston, Texas—giving many of the Texas National Turn 2: Operations against infrastructure organizations
Guard’s state and local partner agencies an opportunity to (Transportation, Water, Energy) – (H-12 hours)
collaborate. Building on the success of the first Jack Voltaic Turn 3: Operations against service organizations (Health-
exercise in 2017, this year’s event was especially relevant care, Government) – (H-hour)
for our force, as it focused on the intersection of cyber- Turn 4: Collective response and escalation – (H+12 hours)
security and domestic disaster response. The event was
hosted by Circadence, AECOM, Army Cyber Institute and Throughout the exercise, there were multiple cyber at-
the City of Houston. tacks and injects that corresponded to the escalating hur-
ricane category. Cyber-attacks included computer worms,
Upon arrival on day one, we were given a live-fire exercise data breaches, compromised networks and software
briefing, with a one-hour range overview, which included hacks—all very real-life scenarios for both the private and
operation, navigation and ground rules for the exercise. public sectors.
The demonstration range included two missions which
covered analyzing network traffic, stopping malicious ex- The objectives for the exercise were threefold: to better
filtration and identifying and removing malware. We were manage cyber and physical risks to critical infrastructure,

14 TheDISPATCH SEPTEMBER 2018