8 Thirty-three West Virginia National Guardsmen, Defense Information Systems Agency employees, Illinois National Guardsmen, and West Virginia University students partnered with Polish allies to compete in the world’s largest international cyber defense exercise run virtually by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia the week of April 12-16th.
Locked Shields is a unique cyber defense exercise, offering the most complex technical live-fire challenge in the world, with more than 1,200 experts from nearly 30 nations participating.
There were 22 friendly defense Blue Teams competing in Locked Shields to defend a fictional country. The Blue Team that the West Virginia National Guard – Defense Information Systems Agency Mission Assurance – Cyber members were a part of was a joint team led by Poland, and included additional National Guard members supporting the event both in the exercise and real-world capacities.