Members from the Maryland National Guard and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina pose for a group photograph outside the Pvt. Henry Costin Readiness Center in Laurel, Maryland, Sept. 19, 2024. AFBiH members from the Cyber Operations Center spent a week in Maryland conducting a military-to-military exchange with the CPT 169 to enhance their capabilities through a collaborative learning environment. (U.S. Army National Guard photos by Capt. Michael Fedner)
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LAUREL, Md. – The Maryland Army National Guard’s Cyber Protection Team 169 partnered with their counterparts from the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina for a cyber knowledge exchange Sept. 16-20.
Six Soldiers and civilians from the AFBiH Cyber Operations Center joined the Soldiers from CPT 169 to conduct the military-to-military cyber event at the Pvt. Henry Costin Readiness Center.
“We’re breaking down what we learned this summer from the Adriatic Regional Security Cyber Cooperation exercise (in Slovenia),” said Maryland Army National Guard 1st Lt. Harvey, CPT 169 mission element lead. “This week, we learned about and practiced searching for indicators of network compromise and broke it down step-by-step alongside our SPP partners.”
The partners played offense in the scenario, attacking the network for vulnerabilities to learn how to protect a friendly network.
“Learning about this particular red team tool is going to help us develop defensive skills,” said AFBiH Capt. Slaven Goluza, chief of the Cyber Operations Center. “You must first know how network can be attacked to know how to defend it.”
Maryland Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Amy Kremser, director of the Maryland National Guard Joint Staff, observed the military-to-military exchange and presented challenge coins to the members of the AFBiH.
The Maryland National Guard and Bosnia-Herzegovina have partnered via the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program since 2003.
According to Harvey, the CPT 169 and the AFBiH Cyber Operations Center have become a tight-knit team and enhanced capabilities through mutually beneficial exchanges of technical knowledge.
“We are in our ninth or 10th military-to-military exchange with the AFBiH, and my favorite part of this partnership is seeing our progress with each exchange,” said Harvey.
Both sides plan to expand their partnership through the SPP program.
“A lot of [the CPT 169 soldiers] have become our friends, and we really work as one team,” said Goluza. “We are looking forward to new challenges and cooperation [in the] future.”
