The world of cyber security is a dynamic, complex, and challenging career field. Recruiting such limited talent with such high demand directly into the Coast Guard is a daunting task. The Coast Guard Academy’s Cyber Systems major is one means the Coast Guard is using to recruit and develop future Cyber Leaders of Character. But just what will these folks be doing in the Coast Guard and how do you motivate and share what the future possibilities are? Send them to actual training exercises with USCG CYBER COMMAND. Cyber Dawn, a two-week event hosted by the California National Guard, trains cyber first responders, and this year a select number of Cyber Systems cadets got the chance to apply and sharpen their skills and build their confidence in the two week-long exercise.
“The cadets applied principles learned in class to setup, monitor, and defend a cyber system. The cyber system being leveraged was a virtual environment that was easily restorable should mistakes be made; it made a great learning platform,” said LT Ryan Quarry, a Cyber Systems instructor at the Academy.
In the first week of the training, cadets learned about the tools they needed to deploy in case of a cyberattack. They then applied these tools to various exercises during the second week in what is normally referred to as “blue team” cyber defense activities.
Read more at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy
