2017 Emerald Down V: Regional Cyber Security Exercises

​When: February 16, 2017
Where: Lakewood WA, 98499

Government personnel, critical infrastructure managers and major employers put their understanding of cyber threats and resources into action Thursday, February 16 at the Emerald Down V Regional Cybersecurity Exercise. 

The daylong exercise held at the Clover Park Technical College brought together 133 attendees looking to improve their organizations' cyber plans, build relationships with other regional technology and security practitioners, and practice community cyber security response within an interactive cybersecurity board game. 

The game is one in a series of Sand Table Resilience Games created by James Rollins, Managing Partner at Takouba. This cybergame simulates methods used by different types of hackers to access and exploit a network, such as a phishing attack for sensitive information. Network defenders then use tools and policies to try and stave off attacks, and can call for help from available resources. 

"We're not looking for winners and losers. We want participants to understand how the types of cyberattacks that might occur and what tools they have to counter them," said Eric Holdeman, director of the Center for Regional Disaster Resilience (CRDR). "The goal is for guests to learn how to report a cyber attack, who can help and what resources they might expect in response." 

Holdeman said a main theme of the exercise is to develop community cybersecurity response capability, where public and private entities are encouraged to securely share information on an attack to alert each other and hopefully and collectively or find solutions. 

"A growing number of attacks are not immediately detected. If businesses and governments can share information about an ongoing problem, they have a better chance to collectively develop a patch or counter as a coordinated whole instead of reacting as individual organizations," Holdeman said. 

This year marks the fifth Emerald Down cybersecurity event organized by the CRDR in support of the public-private partnership efforts being led and funded by the King County Office of Emergency Management, and their Critical Infrastructure Committee.

"Today's exercise brought together a wide array of stakeholders to focus on improving preparedness and resilience to the growing threat of cyber intrusions," said Walt Hubbard, director of King County Office of Emergency Management. "This is a great example of what we're striving to achieve in all areas of emergency management in King County." 

Exercise features:
Free cyber incident response template
Interactive scenario based board game
Discussion on viability of emergency cyber credentialing system​

In attendance: 

• Emergency managers
• Business continuity professionals
• Law enforcement community
• Control systems technicians
• Security managers and affiliated IT staff
• Operations support
• Critical infrastructure managers/operators
• Major employers
• Public/private organizations that impact the regional economy

 
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