Participants Include Officials from City of Atlanta and Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett Counties
Atlanta — May 30, 2024
The Atlanta Regional Commission today held a joint cyberterrorism tabletop exercise that included about 150 officials from the City of Atlanta and Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties.
It’s the first time that multiple jurisdictions in metro Atlanta have come together for a cyberterrorism training exercise.
“When it comes to a cyberattack involving our local governments, it’s a matter when, not if,” said Bernard Coxton, Director of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness at ARC. “Our goal with this training exercise is to enhance our collective ability to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from a cyber incident.”
The 150 participants represented a range of city and county departments, including IT, legal, law enforcement, fire, finance, communications, and elections. The scenario they faced involved a cyberterrorism attack that sought to derail a train, compromise electronic voting systems, and utilize artificial intelligence to drive a disinformation campaign.
The exercise was coordinated by ARC’s Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness Department, which is part of the federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and was conducted by L2 Defense. The training session aims to identify any gaps in response and coordination that exist among the participating local governments and recommend action steps to address them.
“Cyberterrorism must be addressed from a regional level,” said Anna Roach, ARC Executive Director & CEO. “We know from experience that an attack on one jurisdiction can spread to others in the area, so it’s imperative that our local governments are able to work together and respond in real time to mitigate any damage.”
About Atlanta UASI
UASI, the Atlanta Urban Area Security Initiative, aims to provide a secure, prepared, and resilient Atlanta region by continuing to develop all-hazard planning and response capabilities that enable a safe and secure urban area for all residents and visitors. UASI was designed to provide enhanced federal preparedness funding to high-threat, high-density urban areas that were identified as vital to the nation’s economy and national security if disrupted by a terrorist attack. Our focus is to manage the Atlanta UASI in partnership with jurisdictions in the UASI footprint. Those jurisdictions are the City of Atlanta and Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties.
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About ARC
The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the official planning agency for the 11-county Atlanta Region, including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale counties as well as the City of Atlanta and 74 other cities. The Atlanta Regional Commission’s mission is to foster thriving communities for all within the Atlanta region through collaborative, data-informed planning and investments.
Contact Name: Paul Donsky
Contact Phone: 470-626-3869
Contact Email: pdonsky@atlantaregional.org
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Patrick J. Doliny, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Optimize Peak Performance, LLC a cub-contractor led the discussion.