Heartbleed and beyond: Marine Corps ‘cyber range’ trains to fight off hackers

COL Mikel J. Burroughs — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:14:26 -0400

Heartbleed and beyond: Marine Corps ‘cyber range’ trains to fight off hackers

Thought I would share this with the RP members. Can some of the Marine Members comment on this, or proivde any additional information?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/07/08/heartbleed-and-beyond-marine-corps-cyber-range-trains-to-fight-off-hackers/

'There is going to be vulnerabilities,' said a Marine colonel. 'It's just how we address those vulnerabilities, how do we go hunt those bad actors and address them.'

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jul 22 at 2015 5:08 PM

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 17:08:58 -0400

I might be able to "a little."

On Quantico & in the DC Metro area there are numerous "Training Facilities" (Basically big warehouses) which can house lots of computers. They have good power, and network connectivity, and can act as mini-SCIFs. I used to work at one in Stafford (MCB Quantico is inside Stafford & Prince William Counties depending on which side of the base you are on).

Conceptually, the easiest way to talk about this is to ignore the computers.

Think of Computers as Logistics. When we go to War, our goal is to Protect our (Logistical) Infrastructure, while "Disrupting" the Threats' Infrastructure. They are doing the same thing (in reverse).

Well, how do you practice for that? The same way you would with any Operation. You go to a Range. In this case, we jump back on the Computers. You have Blue & Red forces. You basically try to kill each other. We're probing for weaknesses trying to shut them down before they can shut us down, and vice versa. If they get in, we try to get back up and running.

The thing about "Logistics" though, is you only want to "Disrupt" not destroy, because you may need those assets later. You can't just go destroying a country's phone lines, or internet connection (which would be the easy way), and because it would be ineffective, as it would be playing "whack a mole."

I hope that makes a little sense?

Response by Cpl Richard Marin made Jul 24 at 2015 6:01 AM

Cpl Richard Marin — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 06:01:56 -0400

Sounds like great training too bad I cant be part of it !! Was up KAli Linux

Hooraw get some !