Orange County Hosts Workshop to Practice Against Real-World Cyber Security Threats

Attendees including emergency, civic, and rescue first responders partake in a cyber security seminar in Santa Ana, Calif., on May 4, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

SANTA ANA, Calif.—Multiple local and federal agencies came together May 4 to train against cybersecurity threats in Orange County, including real-life scenarios of cyber incidents that could affect the county’s infrastructure and operations.

Known as the Cyber Disruption Resiliency Workshop, the training brings together agencies such as the FBI’s OC Cyber Task Force, the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and others to strengthen interagency relationships for when a cyber-attack does happen.

Andrew Cruthers of the Orange County Sheriff's Department Information Technology divsion speaks to attendees of an Orange County Cyber Security seminar in Santa Ana, Calif., on May 4, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Alberto Martinez, director of the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, which operates under the OC Sheriff’s Department, told The Epoch Times that a cyber-attack occurs in the United States every 40 seconds.

“We want everyone to be together should something happen, because it has happened before, and it will happen again,” Martinez said. “We have to know how we are communicating, how we are coordinating, and how we are responding to a cyber incident.”

Members from the various agencies formed mixed-teams to respond in simulations of cyber threats to the county’s water infrastructure and 911, where hackers are known to send a flood of calls to the system preventing actual emergency calls from getting answered.

“We’re very good in Orange County where we’re very progressive in bringing these types of workshops together because you can see today, everyone’s communicating,” Martinez said. “That’s what we want. That’s the goal.”

Attendees including emergency, civic, and rescue first responders partake in a cyber security seminar in Santa Ana, Calif., on May 4, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Officials said the water infrastructure hack was chosen due to such a real-life event in Florida in February 2021 where a hacker boosted levels of sodium hydroxide—which controls water’s acidity—into the public water system.

According to Martinez, it’s crucial for teams to identify trends from attacks. Additionally, he said, simulation training increases situational awareness, strengthens interagency partnerships, and helps find gaps in cyber response plans.

Infrastructure hackers can take on a variety of forms, according to Martinez, including so-called “hacktivists,” which are criminal groups who use cyber-attacks to carry out political causes as well as those from various nation-states who want to hurt the United States—such as North Korea—and regular criminals, such as those looking to scam for monetary gain.