Reserve Marines Simulate Cyberspace Attackers
by U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Ashley Corbo June
29,
2022
Cyber warfare is defined as the use of
computer technology to disrupt the activities of a state or
organization, especially the deliberate attack or defense of
information systems for strategic or military purposes. If a
successful cyber-attack was directed at a power utility grid, it
would have the ability to cut off electricity and running water.
In response to this potential threat,
service members from all branches of the United States military work
alongside industry professionals to simulate an attack and defense
of the northeastern power grid and transmission system.
“The
transmission system is just a bigger version of what you have in
your house,” said. Jason LaDuke, a Company CEO of the electrical
enclave. “It’s like a circuit breaker, but a much, much bigger
system. So power flowing into a city is flowing over a specific
line. If you could close those breakers you would effectively cut
off power to the transmission system.”
Reserve Marines from
Defensive Cyberspace Operations-Internal Defensive Measures
(DCO-IDM) Company B, 6th Communication Battalion, and Marines from
the newly created Marine Innovation Unit (MIU), joined their active
duty counterparts from 8th Communication Battalion, with help from a
subject matter expert from Marine Cyber Auxiliary to participate in
exercise Cyber Yankee June 13-17 2022 Camp Nett, Connecticut.
2nd Lt. Adam Stringer, a Cyberspace officer for with 8th Communication Battalion,
and fellow Marines participate in network hacking plans during Cyber Yankee 22 at Camp Nett, Connecticut
on June 13, 2022. Reserve Marines with DCO-IDM Company B and the newly created Marine Innovation Unit participated in Cyber Yankee as the "red team," simulating a cyberspace attack against a power utility grid. This exercise allowed Reserve Marines to integrate with their active duty counterparts and joint partners to help develop practices to defend against cyber-attacks. (U.S. Marine Corps
photo by Lance Cpl. Ashley Corbo)
|
“Cyber Yankee is a joint effort between the
national guards of the New England states. They try to build up
their capabilities and respond to any attacks to the critical
infrastructure in New England while building a partnership between
the National Guard, industry partners and the other branches of the
United States military,” said Lance Cpl. Miles Young, a data systems
administrator for Defensive Cyberspace Operations-Internal Defensive
Measures (DCO-IDM) Company B, 6th Communication Battalion. “The
Marine Corps role in this is to simulate an attacker so that the
defense can clearly evaluate how they are doing.”
During
Cyber Yankee, the service members are divided up into red teams and
blue teams, with the Marines participating as the red team. The red
team acts as an attacking force while the blue team tries to defend
their network.
“This exercise is red versus blue. This
emulates four different threat actors that leverage the cyber kill
chain to meet their end states,” said Master Sgt. Mike McAllister,
cyberspace operations chief, Marine Innovation Unit. “Each one of
the four actors have different end state objectives. They vary in
levels of sophistication from a cyber-criminal or hacktivist that is
doing nothing more than low risk access attempts that can be
mitigated by very simple security controls and elevate all the way
up to the most advanced threat act or using sophisticated means of
initiating access with stealthy movement throughout the IT enclave
and into the operational technology enclave where the critical
infrastructure is located.”
Master Sgt. Mike McAllister, cyberspace operations chief, Marine Innovation Unit, discusses network hacking plans with red team 1 during Cyber Yankee 22 on Camp Nett, Connecticut
on June 15, 2022. During Cyber Yankee service members are divided up into red teams and blue teams. The Reserve Marines from MIU participated in Cyber Yankee for the first time and plan to continue to support similar exercises to bring extra subject matter expertise in an effort to address advanced technology challenges facing the Department of Defense and the United States.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ashley Corbo)
|
Cyber Yankee is currently the only exercise
of its kind.
“Training like this event is hard to come by.
It’s rare and there are no other exercises that take it to this
level. The power grid is a very complex system. It's essentially one
of the biggest machines on the planet when you look at it all
together. This exercise really drives that complication element
because it is so fast paced and high energy similar to what would
take place in a real attack,” explained LaDuke.
The ability for Reserve
Marines to integrate with Active Component Marines and service
members from other branches provided a valuable training experience
as the potential threat of cyber warfare continues to evolve.
“Marines participate in regional exercises and provide red team
capabilities to the Joint Force Reserve, National Guards, and
industry professionals [as they] interface for regional utilities
which means we’re going in and helping the blue teams refine their
play books so if they are called to support utility companies or in
disasters of cyber nature,” said Staff Sgt. Sean Sarich, an
innovation laboratory specialist at Marine Innovation Unit.
The Reserve Marines from MIU also played an important role in Cyber
Yankee 2022 and plan to continue to support similar exercises to
bring in additional talent and subject matter expertise from the
cyber and developmental support occupational fields. MIU leverages
existing talent in the Marine Corps Reserve to address advanced
technology challenges in order to accelerate the development of new
capabilities. MIU houses coders who have the potential to bring a
new skillset and in-depth challenges to the exercise.
“It’s
good for us to participate in this exercise because it’s important
for us to build our technical skills defending this kind of network
because the critical infrastructure (power and water) have very
specific systems most people don’t have experience defending,” said
Young. “We get the opportunity to sharpen our skill sets and expand
our knowledge.”
************************
Who We Are...
The
United
States Marine Corps Reserve is responsible for providing trained
units and qualified individuals for mobilization to active duty in
time of war, national emergency, and crisis or contingency
operations. On a day-to-day basis, Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES)
consists of a talented and dedicated pool of nearly 100,000 Marines
able to augment the Active Component in a myriad of ways, to include
operational deployments, support to training, participation in
bi/multi-lateral exercises with partner nations and allies, and
service-level experimentation in support of Force Design 2030 and
refinement of new concepts, tactics, techniques, and procedures.
The U.S. Marines |
Marines - The Few, The Proud |
Our Valiant Troops |
I Am The One |
Veterans |
Citizens Like Us
U.S. Marines Gifts |
U.S. Marine Corps |
U.S.
Department of Defense
|
|