FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            RELEASE NO. 31-08

WEST POINT TAKES FIRST PLACE IN CYBER DEFENSE EXERCISE – April 28, 2008

            WEST POINT, N.Y. – The National Security Agency announced today the U.S. Military Academy cadets defended their title to win their fourth Cyber Defense Exercise held April 21-24 against the four other service academies.  The exercise is designed to teach students how to protect and defend the nation’s information systems.

            The CDX was established in 2001 by West Point in collaboration and support from the National Security Agency.  The exercise challenges each team to design, build and configure a real-world computer network and simulates a deployed joint service command.  A network attack team, composed of NSA and Department of Defense personnel, then identifies the vulnerabilities and launches attacks on each network over a four-day period.

            “Cadets are exposed to Information Assurance concepts throughout their academic experience at West Point.  The Cyber Defense Exercise allows them to apply their knowledge and experience in a competitive environment,” said Lt. Col. Joe Adams, U.S. Military Academy’s Information Assurance Professor and CDX coach.

            Cadets actively defended their networks against the NSA in an effort to keep systems

on-line and available.  Each team was evaluated on their ability to maintain services, as well as efforts to prevent and recover from security breaches and provide forensic analysis of compromised systems.

            The NSA will present West Point’s winning team with the Information Assurance Director’s Trophy in May.