Terror attack mock-up has a cyber angle
The Homeland Security Department and dozens of federal, state and local agencies will launch a simulated five-day terrorist attack on May 12 designed to include a small role for cyberwarfare, officials said this afternoon. The game will involve a hypothetical attack by a radiological “dirty bomb” in Seattle and a biological attack via infectious pneumonic plague in Chicago, officials said. HSD Secretary Tom Ridge announced the exercise today at a news conference with officials of the State Department, the two cities and HSD’s Office of Domestic Preparedness. The attack game will include a small element of computer warfare, said Ted Macklin, assistant director of the preparedness office. “There will be an administrative tabletop exercise with a cyberattack,” Macklin said. It will not focus on an emergency operations center takedown but on the ability of state and local authorities to recognize a cyberattack, he said. Full Story