US: The US Military Academy has won the 2014 Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX), its seventh coveted trophy since the annual competition began in 2001, according to NSA. Students from the US service academies, including the US Air Force Academy, US Coast Guard Academy, US Military Academy, US Naval Academy, and US Merchant Marine Academy pitted their cyber security skills, tenacity, and ingenuity against the National Security Agency's top information assurance professionals. NSA's Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) sponsors the annual event. “The CDX is an advanced cyber skill building exercise, unique in its breadth, and of vital importance in developing hands-on cyber defense skills within the US military,” said Neal Ziring, IAD's Technical Director.
Cyber warriors who assess and defend the US government's most sensitive communication systems challenged service academy teams to protect networks designed, built, and configured at the competing schools. Working at the Parson’s facility in Columbia, another group of specialists graded each team's ability to effectively maintain network services while detecting, responding to, and recovering from security intrusions and compromises. “The exercise focused on a key concern of military commanders — keeping network services running in the face of enemy attack. CDX offers military academy students from the US and Canada an opportunity to put classroom learning, experience, and creativity into practice against full-time professional attackers (NSA and Service Red Cells) in a multi-day, competitively scored event. It is also the longest-running event of its kind in the world, and an original model for many of the collegiate and private competitions that are popular today,” added Ziring.
Source: NSA
