Livewire Cyber Exercise

Project Summary

The Exercise and Scenario Development (ESD) Program uses scenario-based exercises as a tool to improve the nation’s defensive posture with respect to information infrastructure threats, by facilitating better inter-agency and inter-sector cooperation, rehearsing new roles and responsibilities for a variety of stakeholders, and identifying technology requirements. To accomplish this we apply a broad spectrum of domain experience and expertise available at the ISTS in the areas of infrastructure protection, exercise design and implementation, modeling and simulation, data network security, knowledge of cyber threats, cybersecurity technology development, and law enforcement programs in a coordinated effort to meet the needs of exercise sponsors and stakeholders. Current projects include a national cyber-focused exercise.

On March 2, 2004, the ISTS submitted the Livewire After Action report to the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council with copies to all participating stakeholders.

This was the final report of Livewire, the first national cyber security exercise, and involved over 300 stakeholders from 50 different enterprises. As a distributed exercise, we conducted the exercise for a period of one week in 14 different locations from October 27-31, 2003. On December 10, 2003, we conducted an After Action Conference and on December 15, 2003, we held a Policy Seminar with high level government officials to address key questions about role and response.

• Project Lead: Andrew Cutts