Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI) and U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced on Thursday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology (DHS S&T) directorate intends to award NUARI a $9.9 million contract to develop technologies that will help organizations understand how to respond in the event of a cyber attack.
The funding will be used to expand NUARI’s DECIDE-FS platform, described by the university as a massive, multi-participant simulation that immerses c-suite decision makers, securities traders, IT and business continuity managers and others into complex, simulated scenarios focused on the effects of cyber incidents as well as other hazards.
“It always impresses me — but never surprises me — when I hear about Norwich University’s success readying our military and security leaders for today’s challenges while continuing its historic mission of developing the military leaders of tomorrow,” said Leahy. “This $9.9 million in additional contracts will keep Norwich growing in the crucial and cutting-edge arena of cyber security, and growing as an essential part of the community in Northfield.”
The University said that it has collaborated with the DHS for nearly a decade, preparing individuals and institutions to respond to catastrophic network failures, natural disasters, Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks and other events that can impact market activity, communications, and essential services affecting critical infrastructures.
“DECIDE, in part, grew out of war game simulations, which have been used for decades by military organizations to validate strategies and tactics and refine response plans,” the University explained.
DECIDE-FS was at the core of the Quantum Dawn series of exercises designed to improve resiliency of financial institutions to cyber incidents, the University said. More than 500 individuals and 40 plus financial institutions participated in the recent Quantum Dawn 2, which simulated a situation in which rogue code initiated a flood of erroneous trades and market oscillations that could lead to shutting down the market.
A study released in July showed that roughly 53 percent of exchanges surveyed by the International Organization of Securities Commissions and the World Federation of Exchanges had been hit by a cyber-attack.
“Experience is the best teacher. Improving a collective response in the face of an evolving advanced persistence threat is a continuous process. An immersive, stressful and adaptable simulation environment, employed with a thinking adversary, is critical to preparing individuals and organizations for the fog of war, when quick, but clear thinking and cooperation are essential,” said NUARI President Phil Susmann. “Realistic training, with measurable consequences to an organization’s value chain, encourages individual and institutional information sharing, cooperation and coordination. Attacks are inevitable. Building resiliency within critical infrastructures is paramount, not optional.”
Funded in part through the DHS and the Department of Defense, NUARI was federally chartered under legislation sponsored by Leahy in 2002.
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