Military Cyber Training Exercise Enhances Network Security Skills

In an obscure office park midway between Baltimore and Washington, about 50 men and women use laptop computers to break into networks at the nation's military service academies. When one of them is successful at penetrating a networked computer, they get up and ring a bell. "We hit a remote desktop on a workstation," one hacker proclaims. Everybody in the room breaks into applause, like the whole issue of national security is just a game -- and in this case, it is.

The group was part of the 2006 Annual Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX), a five-day event that took place last month in Elkridge, Md. In its sixth year, the CDX is designed to help those who will one day be charged with protecting military networks -- students in the nation's military academies -- to learn what they will face when they graduate. "This exercise mirrors what they will see in the real world," said exercise director Maj. Thomas Augustine, who works at the National Security Agency (NSA) and is assigned to the 70th Intelligence Support Squadron at Fort Meade, Md. "It's also about best practices in securing your networks, so that only the right people have the information they need, when they need it."

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