ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands — Coast Guard and Area Maritime Security partner members conducted two Cyber Security exercises in the U.S. Virgin Islands Wednesday and Friday.
The tabletop exercises completed in St Croix, Wednesday, and St Thomas, Friday, evaluated regulated waterfront facilities’ priorities and response actions resulting from a simulated cybersecurity insider threat, and assessed the facilities’ cybersecurity resiliency in response to a simulated significant ransomware incident.
“This Cyber Security exercise is instrumental for us to continue strengthening our governmental and industry partnerships and the level of preparedness within our Caribbean Area Maritime Security community,” said Capt. Luis J. Rodriguez, Coast Guard Sector San Juan commander. “By frequently training together, we improve our ability to collectively respond to a real complex incident that could affect our area of responsibility, which also allows us to better safeguard, prevent and minimize any negative impacts to our maritime infrastructure and economy.”
St Croix Area Maritime Security Subcommittee members conducted the Cyber Security exercise at Ocean Point Terminals in St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, while St Thomas and St John Area Maritime Security Subcommittee members conducted a similar exercise at the West Indies Co. facility in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Coast Guard Emergency Planning and Force Readiness personnel from Sector San Juan facilitated the exercise scenarios at both locations.
Exercise participants included Coast Guard regulated waterfront facilities’ security officers and IT personnel; U.S. Virgin Islands Port Authority representatives; U.S. Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency representatives; U.S. Virgin Islands Fusion Center personnel; Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI, USCG, and other U.S. Virgin Islands maritime industry personnel.