December 12th, 2007
DHS planning Cyber Storm II exercise in March
A Department of Homeland Security official said Cyber Storm II, a national cyber security exercise, is slated for March 2008.
In comments before the New York Metro Infragard Alliance Security Summit on Tuesday, Greg Garcia, assistant secretary of cybersecurity and communications at the DHS, said planning is underway for a March 2008 cyber security exercise, dubbed Cyber Storm II. Here’s what Garcia said:
At the national level, we are actively planning for the March 2008 national cyber exercise, Cyber Storm II, which follows the highly successful cyber storm I held in February 2006. This exercise examines our response and coordination mechanisms against a simulated cyber event affecting international, federal, state, and local governments, and the private sector.
By organizing and executing an exercise such as cyber storm, DHS is able to test our planning, information sharing and response to attack scenarios, assess our strengths and weaknesses in those areas, and learn how to improve response capabilities.
I am thrilled that the financial services sector, through the financial services ISAC, is once again fully engaged in the planning and execution of the cyber storm exercise.
Their participation in the exercise demonstrates their firm commitment to cyber preparedness and I hope sends a signal to other sectors that cyber security measures need to be taken seriously.
Garcia reiterated that the DHS needs cooperation with private enterprise on cybersecurity since companies own 85 percent of the nation’s infrastructure.
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