NTT America, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of NTT (News - Alert) Communications Corporation, announced it has participated in September's 2010 Cyber Storm III exercise, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security's or “DHS.”

The biennial exercise series simulates a large-scale cyber attack on critical infrastructure across the nation.

“We are honored to have been chosen to participate in the 2010 Cyber Storm III exercise as we recognize the importance of response preparedness to potential threats,” said Doug Junkins, NTT America's (News - Alert) chief technology officer, in a statement.

“With the ever-evolving cyber landscape, Internet attacks continue to pose a serious national security threat and risk to Enterprises relying upon the Internet,” Junkins added. “We applaud the Department of Homeland Security and its leadership in proactively addressing this critical issue head on.”

The exercise was intended to strengthen cybersecurity preparedness and response capabilities through strategic decision making and examining the policies, processes and procedures for identifying and responding to a cyber attack, company officials said.

NTT America was part of the Cyber Storm and simulated the Internet during the exercise. The company also took on the role of representing all backbone operators and telecommunications companies.

“NTT's collaboration with the DHS and other Private sector Stakeholders in Cyber Storm III was significant to the creation and execution of a logical and technically correct core scenario that could be utilized across the vast player set,” said Brett Lambo, director for DHS's Cyber Exercise Program.

The first Cyber Storm exercise was held in February 2006 and the second in March 2008. This year Cyber Storm also served as the primary vehicle to exercise the newly-developed National Cyber Incident Response Plan or “NCIRP,” a blueprint for cybersecurity incident response, and offered the first opportunity to test the new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center or “NCCIC.”

Additionally Cyber Storm III  also increased the number of federal, state, international and private sector participation to include eight Cabinet-level departments, in addition to the White House and representatives from the intelligence and law enforcement communities; 13 states; 13 International partners; and 70 private sector companies, one of which was NTT America.

NTT offers technology solutions ranging from global tier-1 internet backbone access to cloud computing and managed hosting in tier-3 datacenters to low latency routes on private networks.

Back in October TMCnet reported NTT America is driving global IP transit market by delivering transport services across Asia, North America, Europe and increasingly South America.