![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2018\/05\/4380392-1024x683.jpg\")
Md. Guard cyber warfare operators from the 175th Wing’s Cyber Operations Group support Exercise Hedgehog May 7th in Southern Estonia. The Cyber personnel advise and assist Estonian Defence Force and Estonia Defence League members to evaluate internal policy for cyber-related activities.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Article and photography by Maj. Kurt Rauschenberg,\u00a058th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]TARTU, Estonia \u2014The 175th Wing\u2019s Cyber Operations Group from Warfield Air National Guard Base, Middle River, Maryland, supported the Estonian Defence League\u2019s cyber defense unit May 2-12 during Exercise HEDGEHOG, also known as Siil 2018.<\/p>\n The Maryland and Estonian cyber warfare operators used the exercise as an opportunity to leverage their joint knowledge and skills from both civilian and military backgrounds. They incorporated cyber scenarios within the training areas that could cause potential threats to the overall exercise if it were a real situation.<\/p>\n One of the EDL\u2019s goals was to build cyber awareness into the exercise with physical objects meant to potentially test policy and procedures of Estonian participants.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used a technique known as cyber exploitation to test their own internal cyber awareness,\u201d said a Maryland Guard cyber warfare operator. \u201cNormally we play a defensive role, but the EDL wants to see people blowing the whistle in these scenarios, which is very creative.\u201d<\/p>\n Scenarios involving rogue wireless access points, phishing attacks with links to a website, and leaving quick response codes with Siil 18 branding to capture basic information from those connecting were used as means for testing the internal cyber awareness levels of the Estonian Defence personnel.<\/p>\n There was also removable media loaded with malware, ransomware attacks, and planting cell phones within units to track locations.<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially, they are breaking into your house, but not stealing anything,\u201d the Maryland Guard cyber warfare operator said. \u201cThey are leaving a nice little note behind, however, letting them know we were here.\u201d<\/p>\n These scenarios mirror real world ways attackers attempt to collect information. Obtaining such information in reality could allow an adversary to gain intelligence of the on-going military activities and potentially compromise planned missions.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the first time the 175th COG has trained with the Estonian Defence Forces,\u201d the Maryland Guard cyber warfare operator said. \u201cOur relationship goes back at least 9-years, if not longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Normally, the exercise would focus primarily on air and land operations with little to no cyber-related situations.\u00a0 However, incorporating the cyberspace domain allows Estonia and the Maryland Guard to widen the scope of participation through the National Guard\u2019s State Partnership Program.<\/p>\n \u201cThis training is so valuable to exercise our shared goals and values,\u201d said the EDL cyber member. \u201cThe everyday tactical and technical efforts put substance to all the cooperation that goes into our established relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n The interviewees in this story requested that their names not be used in the article due to security concerns.<\/p>\n HEDGEHOG 2018 is the largest exercise ever conducted in Estonia with a nation-wide training area and major activities conducted in South-East Estonia and Northern Latvia. The purpose of the exercise is to train on territorial defense, both in conventional and asymmetrical warfare.<\/p>\n Internally, the exercise brings together members of the Estonian Defence League, Women\u2019s Home Defence League, and regular Defence Force.<\/p>\n Additionally, Estonian police and border forces and emergency management personnel also participated. With cooperation from 15 NATO allied forces, over 15,000 personnel participated in Exercise HEDGEHOG 2018.\u00a0 The Michigan And Oklahoma National Guard also participated in the exercise.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Article and photography by Maj. Kurt Rauschenberg,\u00a058th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]TARTU, Estonia \u2014The 175th Wing\u2019s Cyber Operations Group from Warfield Air National Guard Base, Middle River, Maryland, supported the Estonian Defence League\u2019s cyber defense unit May 2-12 during Exercise HEDGEHOG, also known as Siil 2018. The Maryland and Estonian cyber warfare operators used the Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,810],"tags":[675,864,66,65,865],"class_list":["post-2832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-state-partnership-program","tag-175th-wing","tag-cyber-operations-group","tag-estonia","tag-estonian-defence-league","tag-exercise-hedgehog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2832"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2839,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions\/2839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}