Fort Bragg cut power to test ‘real-world reactions’ to a cyber-attack

[Blizzard]

Fort Bragg cut power for thousands to test ‘real-world reactions’ to a cyber-attack

The fort, which the Army says is the world’s largest military base, says it cut off the electricity “to identify shortcomings in our infrastructure, operations and security.”

“Fort Bragg has to train for any possible threats to the installation in order to remain mission capable,” said a post on Fort Bragg’s Facebook page just after 11 a.m.

“This exercise was not announced in order to replicate likely real-world reactions by everyone directly associated with the installation. In today’s world, cyber-attacks are very likely. This exercise is exactly what we needed to do to identify our vulnerabilities and work to improve our security and deployment posture.”

The first of the power outages went into effect around 10 p.m. Wednesday. Power began returning to some parts of the base around 11 a.m. Thursday. Fort Bragg officials said it could be 4 p.m. before base operations would return to normal Thursday.

I'd love to know how this exercise was evaluated and what the outcomes were. I'd also like to see how other installations would perform under a similar scenario.

 

[R.Caerbannog]

Shoot... that means the PX isn't gonna be selling booze and smokes. That's a lot of pissed of Joes and NCO's.

 

[Blizzard]

I was thinking some of the wives on base may've been even more pissed.

 

[AWP]

They simulated a cyber attack via a no-notice power outage to the base, including the hospital? During rush hour?

Um, what?

What reactions are they looking for? It was a bloody power outage, it was presented as a power outage, people probably treated it as a power outage? What did they expect to happen Cannabalism? Mass murder? A breakdown of society? Bank robberies? Rape? Murder? Cats and dogs sleeping together?

Our guys can't have CONOPS approved to go hunt the Taliban and ISIS, but this was deemed appropriate?

 

[CQB]

I'd be interested to know how the UPS worked base wide.

 

[Gunz]

Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division react to cyber-war blackout exercise.

 

[Devildoc]

I can see the conversation:

"Hey, boss, I accidentally cut the power."

"Crap. Well, we can't tell them it was an accident. Storm?"

"No, we haven't had any. Ice?"

"No, it's the end of April, you idiot."

"Oooh, how about this: we call it a cyber attack exercise? Like Red Cell or something."

"Perfect! No one will be the wiser!"

Also, "world's largest military base?" Defined by what?

 

[Box]

There was talk of sacrificing a few virgins to bring the power back on line - and then we realized that we were still on Fort Bragg and that finding a virgin would be almost impossible (even an ugly one)
We considered reading a few magic passages from a Wiccan spell book in hopes that casting of the circle and purification of the sacred space would please the spirits of the interwebz enough for them to restore power to the land of Bragg...
...that didn't work either because the low GT scores of paratroopers on Bragg made reading a spell book a bigger headache than going without NIPR access.

One guy brought in some roasted meat from a wild turkey that he had killed over the weekend - we all took a bite, talked about how delicious it was, and realized that the back up generators had been running all morning.

Boy did we feel stupid

 

[Brill]

What reactions are they looking for? It was a bloody power outage, it was presented as a power outage, people probably treated it as a power outage? What did they expect to happen Cannabalism? Mass murder? A breakdown of society? Bank robberies? Rape? Murder? Cats and dogs sleeping together?

You are aware that Bragg is NOT in Florida?

 

[Devildoc]

You are aware that Bragg is NOT in Florida?

But God, sometimes I really wish it were...