Cyclone Cascade

A Statewide Cyber Crisis Tabletop for Iowa Counties

Cyclone Cascade is a regional cybersecurity tabletop exercise designed specifically for Iowa counties. This exercise places participants in the middle of a large-scale cyber disruption and challenges them to make decisions that keep county operations running. Unlike traditional exercises, Cyclone Cascade follows the CIME (Cybersecurity Incident Management Exercise) approach, starting after systems are compromised and focusing on what happens next.

Who Should Participate?

Each county should send 6–8 participants representing a cross-section of leadership and operations, including:

If your role helps keep the county running, your voice matters in this exercise.

How the Exercise Works

This structure reflects how real cyber incidents unfold—where technical response and operational continuity must work together.

What Makes This Different

Why Participate

Cyclone Cascade helps counties:

Regional Format

District 1: May 18 – Ames
Memorial Union, Sun Room

District 5: June 2 – Pella
Graham Conference Center, Vermeer Banquet Room at Central College

District 3: June 4 – Storm Lake
Dows Multipurpose Room at Buena Vista University

District 4: June 8 – Creston
Instructional Center, Room 180 at Southwestern Community College

District 2: June 11 – Webster City
Van Diest Supply Company Meeting Room at Briggs Woods Conference Center

District 6: June 16 – Waterloo
Schoitz River Rooms, Waterloo Center for the Arts

District 1 Counties: Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Dallas, Greene, Grundy, Hamilton, Hardin, Jasper, Marshall, Polk, Poweshiek, Story, Tama, Warren, Webster
District 2 Counties: Allamakee, Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Emmet, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Hancock, Howard, Humboldt, Kossuth, Mitchell, Winnebago, Winneshiek, Worth, Wright
District 3 Counties: Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Sac, Sioux, Woodbury
District 4 Counties: Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Clarke, Decatur, Fremont, Guthrie, Harrison, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor, Union
District 5 Counties: Appanoose, Davis, Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Lucas, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Muscatine, Van Buren, Wapello, Washington, Wayne
District 6 Counties: Benton, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Cedar, Clayton, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, Iowa, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Scott

Registration

Seats are limited.

Each county is encouraged to:

*This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP), FY2022.