The commander of the Illinois National Guard is again lending his cyber-security expertise to a preparedness exercise.
More than 800 military men and women are involved in Cyber Shield 2022, which is going on in Arkansas. Maj. Gen. Rich Neely (pictured, standing, far left) says – particularly in Illinois – cyber-vigilance is a must!
“Just in the past month,” Neely told a media briefing before the exercise, “the city of Quincy municipality network was hobbled by a ransomware attack. Last year, the Illinois attorney general’s computer networks were also attacked, and the Illinois Board of Elections network was attacked in 2016 as well as several other states.”
The Army says CyberShield brings to light the Guard’s role in cyber-protection, in large part because of the diverse skills in the civilian world people in the Guard occupy.