Omaha, Neb. – Cyber security remains a top priority for the state’s utilities, who continued to sharpen their skills during the Cyber Tatanka exercise held in partnership with the Nebraska National Guard.
Cyber Tatanka was a two-week exercise, where cyber security staff members practiced defending against cyber-attacks in a controlled environment. The Cyber Tatanka exercise was planned and organized by Lincoln Electric System (LES), Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), Nebraska National Guard, and Union Bank and Trust.
“This exercise is both unique and extremely valuable to the various teams that handle cyber security on a daily basis, but don’t deal with cyber-attacks at the level or intensity experienced in the drill,” says NPPD Cyber Security Governance, Risk, and Assurance Manager Lourdes Herling, “Getting a chance to practice our response to these scenarios in a controlled environment ensures we are better prepared to respond to any potential cyber threats in the future.”
Courtesy/NPPD — “The Nebraska National Guard Individual Achievement Medal Ceremony: Dana Turner, UBT; Brigadier General Craig Strong; Jessica Harman, LES; Gov. Pillen; Lourdes Herling, NPPD. (Not pictured: James Richardson, LES; Wyatt Leehy, NPPD)”
A total of 150 cyber security professionals participated in the exercise, representing organizations in manufacturing, emergency services, energy, financial services, government facilities, healthcare, transportation, water systems and military, along with several academic institutions. Teams defended systems against hacktivists, cybercriminals, nation-state actors and insider threats.
LES Cybersecurity Manager Dustin Thorne was one of the lead civilian planners and touted the many benefits of the exercise. “Participants gathered experience from a Department of Defense-trained Cyber Protection Team and saw how the U.S., Czech and Ukraine militaries react to cyber events. We all speak the same language in the cyber domain.” Benefits to the military in this type of exercise were to understand the constraints of critical infrastructure and businesses in a cyber event to keep operating while addressing the attack.
In addition, the drill had attendees from the states of Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, South Dakota, Vermont and Pennsylvania as well as international participants from the Czech Armed Forces Cyber Command and the Ukraine Ministry of Defense.
The Nebraska National Guard recognized LES’ Dustin Thorne with the Nebraska National Guard Commendation Medal and LES’ James Richardson and Jessica Harman and NPPD’s Lourdes Herling and Wyatt Leehy with the Nebraska National Guard Individual Achievement Medal for their work in planning the exercise.
