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NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
CENTRAL SECURITY SERVICE

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYLAND 20755-6000

NSA PRESS RELEASE
28 April 2009
For further information contact:
NSA Public and Media Affairs, 301-688-6524

West Point Takes the NSA Cyber Defense Trophy for the Third Straight Year

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) is pleased to announce that the United States Military Academy at West Point has won the 2009 Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX) trophy for the third year in a row. CDX, an annual event that is sponsored by NSA/CSS, is a computer security competition designed to foster education and awareness among future military leaders about the role of information assurance (IA).

During the CDX, NSA/CSS network specialists challenged teams in their abilities to defend the closed computer networks that the students had designed, built and configured at their respective schools. The entire CDX is conducted on virtual private networks, providing a safe path for the exercise without interference to real-world networks. The students were graded on each team’s ability to effectively maintain network services while they detected, responded to, and recovered from network security intrusions or compromises.

Teams from the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and West Point participated at their respective schools. Also participating was the Air Force Institute of Technology, the Naval Postgraduate School and, for the first time, an allied partner school – the Royal Military College of Canada.

For more information regarding CDX, please visit our web site, www.nsa.gov, to view an award winning wrap-up video of CDX 2008. For questions on CDX 2009, please contact NSA Public Affairs at 301-688-6524 or via email at nsapao@nsa.gov.