Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID)

The DHS S&T’s Cyber Security Research and Development Center (CSRDC) participated in the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) that completed on 24 June 2005. CWID is an annual DoD sponsored exercise that demonstrates innovative information technologies that can be of immediate benefit to the joint operations community, which includes civil sector government and allied nation stakeholders. CWID 2004 & 2005 events emphasized Homeland Security (HLS) and Homeland Defense(HLD) initiatives.

The CSRDC sponsored a trial entitled “Pathways to a National Cyberspace Security Response System (PNCSRS).” PNCSRS is a prototype of information infrastructure assurance capability specified in the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. The PNCSRS application suite was used to: (1) evaluate off-the-shelf technologies that have the potential be deployed in more advanced NCSRS pilots; (2) to explore methods of conducting future national scale cyber security exercises; and (3) to generate ideas for new R&D initiatives. The trial produced key breakthroughs by demonstrating the fusing of cyber security information with other operational intelligence through the DoD’s Global Command and Control System (GCCS), and in procedural approaches to integrate cyber security information in the HLS-HLD decision making process.

In addition to advancing concepts for a National Cyberspace Security Response System, the sponsored systems also provided security monitoring services that discovered incidents of anomalous network access which were reported to the CWID network security staff for further investigation. Components integrated in the DHS trial include the EMERALD network security sensor (SRI International), the SecureScope security data visualization application (Secure Decisions), and the Shinkuro secure group collaboration suite (Shinkuro, Inc.). A final CWID assessment report is expected to be released by year’s end.