Canadian Navy team wins U.S. Cyber Command 'Big Flag' exercise

It was announced on Friday, at the close of the event, that of 17 Cyber Protection Teams competing in the event known as "Big Flag," Team 15, of the Royal Canadian Navy, was the winner.

Over 430 participants were involved, coming from U.S. military branches, interagency partners, the U.S. Coast Guard, the House of Representatives, the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and teams from Canada and Britain.

The event, headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Md., was held remotely over three time zones, a statement on Friday from the U.S. Cyber Command said.

"Cyber Flag 21-2 tested the best and brightest cyber protection teams. This exercise assessed their tactical cyber skills while collectively improving our cyber resiliency," Gen. Paul Nakasone, chief of the U.S. Cyber Command, said in a press release.

"I'd also like to congratulate the Royal Canadian Navy's Cyber Protection Team, the winner of this year's event," Nakasone said.

Teams performed defensive tasks countering attacks within a specific scenario, and each team was judged on its cyber defensive actions by Cyber Command assessors.

Insights were then shared with all participants to further evolve future training and cybersecurity actions, according to officials.

The competition is a platform to showcase one of the command's new training capabilities, known as the Persistent Cyber Training Environment.

This year's exercise used a fictitious logistics depot under cyberattack, simulating "threats common in the Indo-PACCOM [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command]," Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Edwards, Cyber Flag 21-2 exercise lead, told reporters ahead of the event.