Kiewit Hall was the site of a two-week training exercise in June for hundreds of cybersecurity experts from around the world.The College of Engineering’s Kiewit Hall was the site for a two-week training exercise in June for hundreds of cybersecurity personnel during Cyber Tatanka 2024, an annual meeting where military and civilian employees plan against cybercrimes and defend technology infrastructure from cyber-attacks. This year’s event was organized by the Nebraska National Guard (NENG) and several Nebraska companies.
According to Tim Pospisil, director of corporate security at Nebraska Public Power District,
being prepared to respond to a cyber event has never been more important as recent global hacks on the SolarWinds supply chain and power stations in Ukraine highlight the need for better preparedness in the U.S. and worldwide. He credits Nebraska companies like NPPD and LES, the NENG and other military branches for sharing their resources and training techniques to make Nebraska and other states more cyber secure.
“If you are a small business in need of cybersecurity support and services, you might not need to look any further than your own backyard,” Pospisil said.
Cyber Tatanka is best described where military and civilian teams blend into multiple teams to defend systems against a “red team,” Pospisil says. The red team begins the week with simple but noisy attacks but as the week progresses, transitions to more sophisticated methods, executing attacks indicative of nation-state or advanced persistent threat actors.
“Since the purpose of the exercise is to train workers, at the end of each day a member of the red team debriefed each team to show them what attacks were used and what they did or should have seen to tip them off to the attack,” he added. “This is where the true value of the event is gained.”
Participants included 194 attendees from three military branches; seven Nebraska state, county and local governments; three academic institutions; 10 civilian organizations; six U.S. states; and six countries. Pospisil added that planning is already underway for Cyber Tatanka 2025 with a goal of training more than 250 cyber defenders next summer.