{"id":482741,"date":"2025-06-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=482741"},"modified":"2025-06-17T07:16:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T07:16:53","slug":"cyber-shield-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=482741","title":{"rendered":"Cyber Shield 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>

\n 1 \/ 3<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Lt. Col. Erick Eggers, Chief Information Officer, Iowa Army National Guard, escorts distinguished visitors during Cyber Shield 2025 at the Virginia National Guard State Military Reservation, Virginia Beach, Virginia, on June 12, 2025. Approximately 900 National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, Guardians and civilian cyber professionals from around the world gathered during exercise Cyber Shield May 30-June 13, 2025. Cyber Shield is the longest-running and largest Department of Defense cyber exercise, and this year hosts 42 states and territories, along with 15 countries within the State Partnership Program. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Sam Hircock)
\n (Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Samantha Hircock)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Cyber
\n <\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n 2 \/ 3<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Members of Red Team participate in a Hack the Box (an industry-recognized cybersecurity upskilling, certification, and talent assessment platform) event at Virginia National Guard State Military Reservation, Virginia Beach, Virginia, June 6, 2025. Approximately 900 National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, Guardians and civilian cyber professionals from around the world gathered for exercise Cyber Shield May 30-June 13, 2025. Cyber Shield is the longest-running and largest Department of Defense cyber exercise, and this year hosts 42 states and territories along with 15 countries within the State Partnership Program. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Sam Hircock)
\n (Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Samantha Hircock)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"Cyber
\n <\/a>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n 3 \/ 3<\/span>
\n
\n Show Caption +<\/span>
\n Hide Caption \u2013<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n
\n
\n Airmen with the 168th Cyber Operations Squadron, Iowa Air National Guard, conduct cyber defense exercises at Virginia National Guard State Military Reservation, Virginia Beach, Virginia, June 8, 2025. Approximately 900 National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, Guardians and civilian cyber professionals from around the world gathered for exercise Cyber Shield May 30-June 13, 2025. Cyber Shield is the longest-running and largest Department of Defense cyber exercise, and this year hosts 42 states and territories along with 15 countries within the State Partnership Program. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Sam Hircock)
\n (Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Samantha Hircock)<\/span>
\n <\/span>
\n VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia \u2013 Nearly a thousand participants including international partners, civilians and joint military forces converged for the longest-running and largest Department of Defense cyber defense exercise at the Virginia National Guard State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach, Virginia, May 30 to June 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

The participants gather annually for training and assessment in cybersecurity skills. This year\u2019s training included CompTIA training and certifications like CySA+, PenTest+, CASP+ and more. Some of the training teaches cyber defense and offense, while some teaches strategy and management.<\/p>\n

The first week, participants took training for certifications and tested skills in competitions like Capture the Flag, a type of cybersecurity competition where participants engage in various challenges to find hidden text strings, known as “flags,” within vulnerable programs or websites. In the second week, red teams created offensive attacks that mimic real-world scenarios endangering municipalities and public services, while the blue team defended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about moving from talking about possibilities in theory, to putting the concepts into action with practical application,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Shawn Buck, noncommissioned officer in charge of the signal section (S6), 248th Aviation Support Battalion, Iowa Army National Guard. \u201cWe are looking at why and how [the enemy] works from two steps back and two steps ahead, and then using the information to plan a defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Protecting critical infrastructure\u2014like water and electricity\u2014from cyberattacks is a national priority. With advances in technology and the modernization of systems, cybersecurity is increasingly at the forefront of defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to exercise our capabilities as a team to find out how we\u2019re operating in an incident response,\u201d said Maj. Jeremy Wright, team lead for the Defensive Cyber Operations Element, Joint Force Headquarters, Iowa National Guard. \u201cWe [came here to] get training in the first week and then see how good we are in the second week.\u201d<\/p>\n

During both the training and the exercise, the participants appeared intensely focused and engaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite aspect of this is seeing my team take the things that they\u2019ve learned in the first week and put that into practice in the second week,\u201d said Wright. \u201cIt\u2019s like instant growth. You see these guys learning [something] one day and then the next day they\u2019re using that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyber Shield also offers a rare opportunity for multiple states\u2019 National Guard units, global State Partners and other branches to work together and learn from each other. It\u2019s a chance to share perspectives and skills at a level that can only happen at an event of this scale, said Wright.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team has been lucky to receive a lot of training even before coming to Cyber Shield,\u201d said Maj. Genti Koqinaj, commander with the Communications and Information Systems Company, Kosovo Security Force. \u201cBut this exercise has helped us to validate and test the teams\u2019 abilities to do cyber defense, threat hunting, host analysis and many other tasks as part of cyber defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koqinaj says he is also grateful for the State Partnership program with the Iowa National Guard for helping the KSF grow in cyber capabilities, putting them in a much better posture for cyber defense. This year, they were able to train on setting up ranges and training environments and will now be able to conduct similar operations in Kosovo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love the people,\u201d said Capt. Rhea Goulet, action officer for Cyber Shield, 3662nd Support Maintenance Company, North Dakota Army National Guard. \u201cThe opportunity to visit with individuals from not only across the United States but from other countries, as well as working with other states to facilitate the coordination and logistics of Cyber Shield.”<\/p>\n

Goulet has been the full-time action officer for Cyber Shield since 2021 and said she has seen the value of the partnerships first-hand, including those with vendors and course trainers that she works with in order to support the certifications element of Cyber Shield.<\/p>\n

\u201cCyber Shield is so important because cyber is the next big thing,\u201d said Goulet. \u201cA lot of warfare doesn\u2019t just take place outside the keyboard; it takes place on the keyboard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Lt. Col. Erick Eggers, Chief Information Officer, Iowa Army National Guard, escorts distinguished visitors during Cyber Shield 2025 at the Virginia National Guard State Military Reservation, Virginia Beach, Virginia, on June 12, 2025. Approximately 900 National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, Guardians and civilian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482743,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-482741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=482741"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482747,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482741\/revisions\/482747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/482743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=482741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=482741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=482741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}