CyberwarwarWest Point wins Cyber Defense Exercise, launches Army Cyber Institute

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has won the annual Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX) which brought together senior cadets from the five service academies — U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy — for a 4-day battle to test their cybersecurity skills against the National Security Agency’s (NSA) top information assurance professionals.

“The CDX is an advanced cyber skill building exercise, unique in its breadth, and of vital importance in developing hands-on cyber defense skills within the U.S. military,” said Neal Ziring, technical director for the NSA’s Information Assurance Directorate, the event’s sponsor.

This is West Point’s seventh trophy since the competition began in 2001. The Naval Postgraduate School and the Royal Military College of Canada also participated in the exercise but did not compete for the trophy.

USA Today reports that the exercise required the academy teams to protect their system networks against attacks by the NSA team, while another group of cybersecurity professionals graded each team’s ability to maintain network services while fighting the security intrusions employed by the NSA team.

“It (CDX) focused on a key concern of military commanders — keeping network services running in the face of enemy attack,” Ziring said. “CDX offers military academy students from the U.S. and Canada an opportunity to put classroom learning, experience, and creativity into practice against full-time professional attackers (NSA and Service Red Cells) in a multi-day, competitively scored event. It is also the longest-running event of its kind in the world, and an original model for many of the collegiate and private competitions that are popular today,” Ziring added.

 Many of the senior cadets who participated in the CDX will specialize in cyber operations after they become officers next month. West Point’s win comes just as the academy announced plans for its Army Cyber Institute (ACI), intended to develop elite cyber troops for the Pentagon. “It’s a very exciting time,” said Colonel Greg Conti, the organization’s director. “It feels a bit like we’re at the birth of the Air Force, like we’re that kind of historic era.”

West Point has taught cyber education for years under various titles, including information assurance or information warfare, but in 1999 the academy launched a small cybersecurity program that flourished into the newly created cyber institute. Conti said the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Estonia, the Georgia Tech Information Security Center, Stanford Center for Internet and Society, among other organizations, served as a model for the ACI.