Fleet Cyber Teams triumphant in SANS International Services Cup 2024

Sub-Lieutenant Simon Gonsalves, 
Maritime Forces Pacific Public Affairs Officer 

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To be selected to compete in the one of the world’s premier cybersecurity competitions, the invite-only SANS NetWars International Services Cup, is a high honour for military cyber professionals. In preparation, the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) two formational cyber teams – Atlantic and Pacific – combined forces to globally represent the cyber skill of Canada’s sailors.

One of two Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) teams selected to compete, RCN generated a highly talented team, which balanced expertise from different skill areas to overcome difficult challenges. During this capture-the-flag style event, 35 five-member national teams, hailing from nine countries, fiercely competed to demonstrate their virtual talent in a variety of cybersecurity fields.

Focusing on core areas of competency, such as open-source intelligence, reverse engineering, network traffic analysis, and web exploitation, the competitors worked, under severe time constraints, to achieve the highest number of points possible.

Out of a maximum of 15,400 points, the RCN contingent achieved a victorious total score of 12,565 – securing a first-place victory!

Lieutenant-Commander (LCdr) Sean Bruce, Officer in Charge Fleet Cyber Team Pacific, noted that “while our victory increased the RCN’s reputation and credibility in the cyber domain, this competition was an opportunity to work with vital partner nations, and provided valuable learning opportunities which will be incorporated into our future training and development.”

Though this victory was an RCN cyber contingent first, it will certainly not be the last.

“Our continued participation in international training events helps to demonstrate that we are participating in this realm with the seriousness it deserves,” said LCdr Bruce. “Cyber threats are one of most important emerging military threats of the modern era.”

Bravo Zulu to the RCN’s team, for their incredible performance and representing our country on the international stage!

Cyber conflict

Cyber conflict is occurring on an ever-increasing scale, and its considerations are permeating modern naval operations. The contemporary cyber threat environment is a complex world of malicious actors, ranging from lone hackers to fully developed adversarial cyber warfare capabilities. Consequently, naval platforms and facilities need to be hardened and defended against escalating cyber threats.

Blending a mix of CAF Cyber Operators and RCN system specialists, the Fleet Cyber Teams are a nascent capability which will provide the fleet with ability to safeguard shipborne networks and to help detect and respond to cyber incident anywhere in the world

Safeguarding these “network of networks,” that modern naval operations are dependent on, is the primary task for Maritime Forces Pacific’s growing cyber team.

Are you a current member of the RCN, and interested in cyber security and defence? If so, you’re welcome to attend Fleet Cyber Team Pacific’s weekly training sessions! To learn more, contact Sean.Bruce@forces.gc.ca or (+MARPAC Fleet Cyber@Esquimalt) or watch for an upcoming NAVGEN outlining the details of the Naval Cyber Network program.