Battlefield High to host cyber security exercise

Cyber warfare will be waged at Battlefield High School this weekend.

The Haymarket area school is hosting “Cyber Dawn,” described by organizer White Wolf Security as “a computer network attack and defend live fire exercise.”

Ten teams of participants from area colleges, corporations, military groups and government organizations will try to defend their computer systems from attacks by other teams in the two-day exercise that begins Saturday, said Tim Rosenberg, with White Wolf Security.

The attacks will be real, not simulated, but the computer systems will be holding sample data, Rosenberg said.

Students from Battlefield High School’s information technology specialty program will be on the teams, alongside the other participants, said Gail Drake, an information technology teacher and robotics coach at Battlefield.

“It’s actually a huge event because it’s the first time you have academic teams, corporations, government and military [participants] coming together to play a cyber warfare game,” Drake said. “To me it’s like the coolest thing we’ve ever done.”

The idea for the Cyber Dawn event grew from announcements the U.S. government made earlier this year about the need to execute cyber challenges and recruit talent in that area, White Wolf Security officials said.

Organizers have three main goals for the event, Rosenberg said.

First, to bring together high school and college students with people who do cyber security work for corporations, the military and the government.

“It’s bringing potential employers together with potential employees,” Rosenberg said. “The cyber security industry is horribly understaffed.”

To that end, part of the event will be a job fair, Rosenberg said.

For Battlefield students, it will be a chance to sharpen their skills and learn new ones, Drake said.

“They’ll be able to learn by personal experience,” Drake said. “The students will get huge, huge insight.”

A second goal of the exercise is to give cyber security professionals and students a forum to test their skills, Rosenberg said.

“It’s a very realistic, hands-on training exercise for all participants,” he said.

The exercise will be realistic, but secure and “completely consequence free,” Rosenberg said.

“It’s a very realistic environment to hone their skills,” he said.

The organizers’ third goal is to raise awareness about cyber security, Rosenberg said.

Cyber Dawn’s opening ceremony is open to the public and will be held at Battlefield Saturday at 10 a.m.

The school’s chorus will perform the national anthem, along with the JRTOC Color Guard. 

The keynote speaker will be Col. Barry R. Hensley, director of the U.S. Army’s Global Network Operations and Security Center.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.