U.S. National Guard’s Evolving Mission Includes Assisting Local Governments Experiencing Cyber Attacks – CPO Magazine

These brigades are also often consolidated efforts, bringing together personnel and resources from multiple National Guard branches (such as the Army and Air Force). In total the National Guard has nearly 4,000 service members dedicated to cyber security spread across 59 units in 38 states, and anticipates adding more through 2022.

An example of the sort of incident that these cyber units respond to is the coordinated ransomware attacks that hit 22 small towns and cities in Texas in August. These localities were relying on a combination of state and federal resources and outside contractors to support local IT departments with very thin resources. Texas National Guard personnel and resources were put to use to help get vital services back online.

via U.S. National Guard’s Evolving Mission Includes Assisting Local Governments Experiencing Cyber Attacks – CPO Magazine.