Homeland Security's Cyber Storm III to Test Obama's National Cyberattack Response Plan in September, 2010!

I missed the first two editions of Cyber Storm in 2006 and 2008, but it appears to be some type of cyber attack simulation to test America's response plan.

You can read about the 2006 Cyber Storm I and the 2008 Cyber Storm II exercises by clicking the appropriate link. The next exercise conducted by the Department of Homeland Security will be in September, 2010 and will test President Obama's national cyber response plan.

Cyber Storm III will build upon the lessons learned in the two previous exercises that took place in February 2006 and March 2008, and provide the first opportunity to assess the White House strategy for responding to a cyberattack with nationwide impact.

"The national cyber response plan will be an offshoot of a lot of the findings that came out of Cyber Storm I and II that will formalize the roles and responsibilities," said Brett Lambo, director of the cyber exercises program in DHS' national cybersecurity division. He participated on an afternoon panel at the GFirst conference in Atlanta hosted by the department's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team. "It's not a direct cause-and-effect relationship, but a lot of questions bubbled up [from the exercises]," followed by the announcement along with President Obama's 60-day cyber review that a response plan should be developed.

Details of the national cyber response plan are still being finalized through weekly meetings with stakeholders from federal government and industry. An initial report is scheduled to be released in November, less than a year before Cyber Storm III kicks off, said Robert Dix, vice president of government affairs and critical infrastructure protection at Juniper Networks, who is among the industry representatives involved in both the plan's development and the Cyber Storm exercises.

Source: nextgov