The Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council (NERAC) is sponsoring a two-day training on Cyber Security for public safety professionals that serve the NERAC region and those who support their technology infrastructures. The training will consist of two courses developed by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX): Essentials of Community Cyber Security (AWR-136) and The EOC’s Role in Community Cyber Security (MGT-384). The Essentials of Community Cyber Security training is a four hour non-technical introduction to cyber security that overviews basic terminology, identifies fundamental cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and countermeasures, and provides an awareness level understanding of the potential impacts of a cyber attack on operations and emergency response in a community. The course will also introduce the initial steps and actions that need to be taken in order to establish a community level cyber security program.

The remaining 12 hours of the training will explore the role of the EOC in responding to and recovering from cyber attacks (also at a non-technical level).  Participants will be provided with an awareness of how cyber events can impact communities and will learn the roles and responsibilities needed to detect, prevent, and respond to a cybersecurity event using past incidents as examples.  The course will also address how cyber attacks can be used to affect, disrupt, and/or complicate emergency responses.

The course will take place on April 12th and April 13th from 8am to 4pm. NERAC will provide backfill and overtime support to any non-salaried personnel that attend the training.