News

WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded a total of $5,900,000 to the Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) to expand the Distributed Environment for Critical Infrastructure Decision-Making Exercises (DECIDE) cyber-training platform. DECIDE was originally developed in tandem with and transitioned to the financial services sector; this new effort will build similar simulation-based scenarios and exercises specific to the energy sector.

The department’s Science and Technology Directorate announced it’s awarding $5.9 million to the Norwich University Applied Research Institute to expand a training tool used by the financial services sector to organizations in the energy sector. Distributed Environment for Critical Infrastructure Decision-Making Exercises, or DECIDE, is an interactive platform that allows players to practice cyber-threat response tactics in an immersive online environment before real-life crises occur.

Norwich University President Richard W. Schneider and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced on Thursday, March 21, the award of three major contracts totaling approximately $7.3 million that continue Leahy’s long-standing support of cybersecurity education programs and research at Norwich University.

Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) participated in the National Guard’s Cyber Yankee 2018 exercise by providing senior leaders access to the DECIDE exercise platform. The senior leader exercise was a decision making program that mirrored the larger exercise.

National Guard Units Train To Defend Against Attacks At Cyber Yankee

NUARI supported the Quantum Dawn IV (QD4) financial services sector exercise with the DECIDE Platform in November 2017.

President Phil Susmann spoke to the American Association of Port Authorities Annual Security Conference on Cyber Security Preparedness and Resiliency in the Marine Environment on July 20th in Chicago, IL. Phil focused on the recent US Coast Guard Cyber Security Framework Profiles (CFP) for Maritime Bulk Lidquids Transfer (MBLT) mission area. The presentation built on the NIST Cyber Framework explored the issues of Response and Recovery implications and explored how to plan and prepare for a cyber security event.

Click on this link for a webinar conducted by Federal Publications Seminars in June 2017 focused on Building Critical Infrastructure Resiliency.
http://www.fedpubseminars.com/OnlineCourses/Webinars/Cybersecurity-Building-Critical-Infrastructure-Resiliency/?id=211

Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) has been awarded $2.3 million by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help better prepare the country to defend itself against continuous cyberattacks and intrusions. NUARI has partnered with four other universities in the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC), where it will develop numerous training products (from blended mobile training programs to comprehensive cyberterrorism defense courses) on cybersecurity over the next three years.

NUARI’s DECIDE-FS risk resiliency software was nominated last year by FedScoop as one of the best and brightest technologies implemented this year that make the federal government more efficient and effective. The FedScoop 50 Awards celebrate those people and products that make a positive impact in the public sector. FedScoop is the leading government tech media company in Washington, DC.

Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) has been contracted to develop a cybersecurity course for first-responders. On February 11, 2016, NUARI signed a Subaward Agreement in the amount of $251,301 with the University of Arkansas System Criminal Justice Institute as prime contractor. As a member of the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC), NUARI has received a subaward under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Homeland Security National Training Program to develop a 64-hour web-based course. The NUARI web-based course will be entitled “Introduction to Vulnerability Assessment.” The objective of the course is to provide instruction enabling students to evaluate vulnerability assessment, threat assessment and risk analysis projects as they relate to cyber security. After development is complete and the course is certified by DHS FEMA’s National Training and Education Division (NTED), six courses will be delivered and approximately 200 students will be trained during the program period. The course will then be added to FEMA’s National Training and Education Division (NTED) course catalog and made available on the ongoing basis.

Norwich University was the only educational institution invited to participate in support of the public safety team tasked with safeguarding Super Bowl 50. With support from over 60 students working at its campus based Global Threat Observatory, Norwich cybersecurity students and faculty collaborated with Levi’s Stadium – the host for the event – and with the Super Bowl 50 Critical Infrastructure & Cyber Protection Sub Committee, the represented agencies and their personnel. This committee was led by Detective Sergeant Ray Carreira ’96 of the Santa Clara Police Department, the lead law enforcement agency for the event. Throughout 2015 CSIA students worked with this team in preparation for this globally televised event and formed partnerships with leading software developers to support their work.

NUARI participated in a one-and-a-half day event that provided a forum for discussion about cybersecurity and the higher education community. Participants included senior leaders from institutions of higher education, as well as representatives from federal departments, and agencies that support campus resilience. The event included workshop sessions focusing on the cyber threat landscape across the U.S. higher education community, a threat briefing related to attacks perpetrated against institutions of higher education, and a tabletop exercise involving participant role play in response to a campus wide data breach. Because emergency planning involves a collaborative team of individuals from across an institution, it comprised 4-5 senior leaders representing various functional categories attending from various schools.

NUARI hosted a cyber crisis simulation at the global Sibos conference in Singapore, engaging participants to join forces with colleagues from other organizations to actively participate in a cyber-attack simulation facilitated by DECIDE Platform. This live exercise enabled financial institutions to improve their operational resilience to cyber events through realistic scenarios. Sibos convenes 8,000 business leaders and decision-makers from financial institutions, market infrastructures, and technology partners to help shape the future of the financial sector.

Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) tested its cyber gaming software yesterday with over 500 participants from over 80 financial institutions and government organizations in Quantum Dawn 3, one of the largest financial sector cybersecurity exercises. The exercise allowed some of the country’s largest financial institutions and some of its smallest to test their ability to maintain operations while managing a coordinated cyber-attack designed to interrupt the U.S. financial system. Previous live exercises were conducted in both 2013 and 2011.

NUARI named Northfield Savings Bank President and CEO Thomas S. Leavitt, of Waterbury Center, to its board of directors. Leavitt joins 10 directors on the board, bringing 22 years of banking experience that spans across all functions and includes a history of community and board involvement. As a result, Leavitt will also bring significant insight to NUARI’s focus on supporting the U.S. financial sector with unique cybersecurity tools.