Operation: Defend The North 2025 (Calgary)

Join us for breakfast and start your day off right!

Kick off "Defend the North" with an exciting overview of our mission and prepare for a dynamic cyber defence simulation.

The initial signs are subtle yet concerning. At Alberta’s Grid Operations Centre, an unusual surge of communication warnings begins to flood operator dashboards. The interconnectivity status of ODTN Power Co's three 100 MW solar farms across Alberta has flatlined – they've gone silent. While seemingly isolated, this anomaly triggers alarms within the grid monitoring systems. A call is placed to ODTN Power Co to investigate, and standard operating procedures are initiated to prepare reserve power capacity as a precautionary measure. The critical first step is to determine the cause of this sudden silence. Is it a technical glitch within ODTN's systems, a network anomaly, or something more sinister impacting their ability to communicate with the grid? The urgency to understand the root cause escalates as the interconnected nature of the power grid becomes a looming concern.

Recharge with a tasty snack break!

Before the reserve capacity can be fully brought online, the situation rapidly deteriorates. Frequency across the Alberta power grid plummets unexpectedly. This critical instability triggers automated safety mechanisms: high-voltage transmission lines begin to trip offline. The cascading effect intensifies as baseload generators, unable to maintain stability, fail in quick succession. Within moments, darkness descends across Alberta. The blackout spreads with alarming speed, crippling essential infrastructure from oil sands operations to vital pipelines, effectively freezing the entire province. As grid operators scramble to diagnose the catastrophic failure and initiate reboot procedures, ODTN Power Co’s CEO receives a chilling text message: no subject, no sender—just a cryptic string of characters and geographical coordinates. The immediate priority shifts to containing the blackout and understanding the scope of the system failure. Simultaneously, a frantic effort begins to discover the underlying cause of this unprecedented collapse and the meaning behind the ominous message.

Refuel and re-energize with a warm lunch!

Before the reserve capacity can be fully brought online, the situation rapidly deteriorates. Frequency across the Alberta power grid plummets unexpectedly. This critical instability triggers automated safety mechanisms: high-voltage transmission lines begin to trip offline. The cascading effect intensifies as baseload generators, unable to maintain stability, fail in quick succession. Within moments, darkness descends across Alberta. The blackout spreads with alarming speed, crippling essential infrastructure from oil sands operations to vital pipelines, effectively freezing the entire province. As grid operators scramble to diagnose the catastrophic failure and initiate reboot procedures, ODTN Power Co’s CEO receives a chilling text message: no subject, no sender—just a cryptic string of characters and geographical coordinates. The immediate priority shifts to containing the blackout and understanding the scope of the system failure. Simultaneously, a frantic effort begins to discover the underlying cause of this unprecedented collapse and the meaning behind the ominous message.

Recharge with a tasty snack break!

With Alberta plunged into darkness, the focus turns to identifying and eradicating the cause of the cascading failure. If the initial suspicion of a cyberattack is confirmed, this phase will involve pinpointing the point of intrusion within ODTN Power Co’s control systems and removing any malicious software or unauthorized access. The silent embedding of the threat within the solar farms months prior suggests a sophisticated and persistent adversary. Eradication efforts will require deep technical expertise in industrial control systems (ICS) and a thorough understanding of the compromised infrastructure. The cryptic text message and coordinates received by the CEO may provide crucial clues to the attacker's intent and potential targets for eradication. Ensuring the complete removal of the threat and securing the compromised systems against future attacks is paramount to restoring stability and preventing further damage.

Take a moment to stretch and breathe deep!

The immediate response is dominated by the urgent need to restore power to Alberta. Grid operators work tirelessly to diagnose the system-wide failure, implement emergency protocols, and gradually bring generating capacity back online. Simultaneously, ODTN Power Co. must collaborate with grid operators, government agencies, and potentially cybersecurity experts to understand the attack and its impact. Post-incident activity begins concurrently. This includes a thorough forensic investigation of ODTN’s control systems to understand the initial intrusion, the lateral movement within their network, and the trigger for the cascading failure. Legal and regulatory implications will need to be addressed, and detailed documentation of the incident and the response efforts will be critical for future analysis and potential legal action.