WASHINGTON - In February 2006 the biggest-ever "Cyber Storm" war game was held to test the nation's hacker defenses. According to hundreds of pages of heavily censored files obtained by the Associated Press, the $3 million, invitation-only war game simulated what the U.S. describes as plausible attacks over five days against the technology industry, transportation lines and energy utilities by anti-globalization hackers.
The government is organizing a multimillion-dollar "Cyber Storm 2," to take place in early March.
Among the mock disasters confronting officials in the previous exercise: Washington's Metro trains shut down. Seaport computers in New York went dark. Bloggers revealed locations of railcars with hazardous materials. Airport control towers were disrupted in Philadelphia and Chicago. Overseas, a mysterious liquid was found on London's subway.The list of fictional catastrophes is significant because it suggests what kind of real-world trouble keeps the White House awake at night. Railway switches failed. Planes flew too close to the White House. Water utilities in Los Angeles were compromised.
The Homeland Security Department ran the exercise, with help from the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department, CIA, National Security Agency and others.
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Sounds like the government is going to make misinformation / disinformation a more clear factor in the exercise, which I think is a smart move.
Also, The U.S. Joint Forces Command and Northern Command are planning a series of computer-based disaster drills with four states this year as part of their Noble Resolve 2008 preparedness exercises.
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