Houston Collaborates On Three-Day Exercise To Cope With Cyber Attacks

The City of Houston, in collaboration with the Army Cyber Institute at West Point, AECOM, and Circadence, is running a three-day exercise to test its ability to deflect and cope with cyber attacks. The trial – called the Jack Voltaic 2.0 Cyber Research Project (JV2.0) – will simulate a concurrent cyber attack and a natural disaster, testing how the incidents affect response capability, collaboration among government agencies, communications, and military integration.

The exercise will assemble representatives from the following critical infrastructure sectors:

  • education;
  • emergency management;
  • energy;
  • healthcare;
  • military;
  • public utilities;
  • telecommunications; and,

JV2.0, the first combined cyber/ incident response exercise in the state of Texas, is intended to improve preparation for and response to cyber attacks. It will study the interconnection of critical infrastructure, assessing gaps in cybersecurity capabilities and the impact of physical infrastructure degradation on an interconnected, networked environment (and vice versa). It’s expected that the project will develop best practices and a framework template that set a foundation for local governments, as well as a statewide incident response program.

“Our city is the ideal location to conduct this research to prevent, protect, mitigate, respond, and recover from threats and hazards that can affect not only our community but the impacts they have on the nation’s critical infrastructure.” Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said. “Houston has a long-standing partnership with our public and private sectors to identify and insure a thorough understanding of risks and determining capabilities in order to address those risks for the sake of keeping public safety a main priority and minimize disruption for our city’s massive economic contributions.”