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Army Reserve partnership aims to grow cyber warriors
From: Army Times
The Army Reserve has partnered with universities and private companies across the country to recruit and grow cyber security professionals.
The new Cybersecurity Private Public Partnership was launched Feb. 10 during a ceremony on Capitol Hill.
"The nation has a tremendous need for cyber experts, both in the civilian sector and the military sector," said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Talley, chief of the Army Reserve and commanding general of Army Reserve Command.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office showed the federal government alone needs about 40,000 cyber security professionals, Talley said.
"There's a real shortage of this capability in the nation, not just in our own forces," he said.
The Army Reserve is in a unique position to grow these professionals, he said.
"We have a lot of these cyber warriors ready to go because of their civilian-acquired skills at companies where they practice this day in and day out," Talley said. "The good news is the military has recognized that there is great capability in the reserve component … that they need to harvest and bring to the table to get after this important mission."
But demand exceeds supply, so the cyber partnership was started "out of a necessity," said Lt. Col. Scott Nelson, the program manager.
"For the Army Reserve and the reserve component writ large to be successful in the cyber career fields, we need to be immensely engaged in this field," he said. "Our soldiers need to be immersed in it, and they need to have civilian jobs in the career field to be successful."
Learning cyber is similar to learning a language, Nelson said.
"If you're not immersing yourselves in the culture and learning from natural speakers, you're going to have a hard time," he said. "If you look at how the Army's going to grow cyber, it's all about immersion."
Technology and the cyber threat are changing every month, Nelson said.
"If you're not immersed in this, you're not a very effective cyber security professional," he said.
By bringing together the military, universities and private companies, the Cyber Private Public Partnership strives to recruit more cyber warriors, improve the skills of those already in the field, connect potential cyber professionals with employers, and generate interest in military and cyber security career fields among middle- and high-school students.
"We tried to design a program so we can build a personnel pipeline from middle school, high school, collegiate level, entry-level and mid-level, and expand their opportunities to get employed and build academic networks," Nelson said.
This is critical as the nation faces a growing cyber threat, officials said. The recent hack of U.S. Central Command's Twitter account as well as the massive hack of Sony Pictures are just two recent examples.
"The biggest challenges in the world can't be solved by governments alone," Talley said.
The six universities partnering with the Reserve on this are University of Washington, Norwich University, George Mason University, Drexel University, University of Colorado, and University of Texas at San Antonio.
The Reserve's 12 corporate partners include Rackspace, Verizon Communications, Microsoft, Chevron and CALIBRE Systems.
The FBI also is partnering in this effort.
The partner universities are looking for ways to sponsor scholarships and provide money for students to get formal academic training in cyber security. This could include folks who have never worked in the field to advanced degrees for cyber professionals looking to improve their abilities, Talley said.
The Reserve had specific criteria when it selected the partnership universities, Nelson said.
Each program focuses on a specific need in the military, such as infrastructure protection or cyber forensics, he said. The Reserve also wanted schools that offered non-traditional courses and distance learning to meet the needs of its soldiers, many of whom have full-time jobs.
Another factor was whether the schools were nationally ranked and accredited, Nelson said.
"If someone wanted to get a cyber-protection degree, this is an opportunity for them," he said. "We'll put as many reservists as we can through the program. We want to make sure the demand meets what the requirements are."
For now, students will have to rely on more traditional ways to pay for school — ROTC scholarships, Tuition Assistance, the GI bill, Nelson said. Plans are in the works to try to secure funding for the program, he said.
As for the employers in the partnership, they cannot guarantee they will hire Reserve soldiers for cyber security jobs, but they have committed to at least interviewing potential candidates, Talley said.
"The Army is downsizing," he said. "We have a lot of active component soldiers leaving the Army. Some may be cyber warriors and want to get a cyber security civilian career and continue doing military cyber. Those are great recruits. Then there are others who are leaving active-duty who need a good civilian career but don't know much about cyber. Those also are great recruits."
The national average entry-level salary for a cyber security professional is more than $71,000 a year, Nelson said.
"This is an opportunity for a fantastic career and a good paying job," he said. "It's in a high-demand field where you'll always have opportunities."
Talley said he expects the partnership to grow and expand in time.
"There are a lot of details in this, everything from how can we do workshops and conferences, [and] we'll even go to middle schools, high schools and undergraduates to create awareness of cyber security and get young men and women starting to think about this as a career they might want to pursue," he said.
This partnership is "just a starting point," Talley said.
The Army Reserve also is studying what its cyber force structure should be, Nelson said.
"Our initial focus is on those really, truly, tip of the spear cyber security defenders in the Army Reserve, but the breadth is going to grow," he said. "We just can't accept the amount of risk we're taking in defense of our networks."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/guard-reserve/2015/02/16/army-reserve-cyber-partnership/23351603/
From: Army Times
The Army Reserve has partnered with universities and private companies across the country to recruit and grow cyber security professionals.
The new Cybersecurity Private Public Partnership was launched Feb. 10 during a ceremony on Capitol Hill.
"The nation has a tremendous need for cyber experts, both in the civilian sector and the military sector," said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Talley, chief of the Army Reserve and commanding general of Army Reserve Command.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office showed the federal government alone needs about 40,000 cyber security professionals, Talley said.
"There's a real shortage of this capability in the nation, not just in our own forces," he said.
The Army Reserve is in a unique position to grow these professionals, he said.
"We have a lot of these cyber warriors ready to go because of their civilian-acquired skills at companies where they practice this day in and day out," Talley said. "The good news is the military has recognized that there is great capability in the reserve component … that they need to harvest and bring to the table to get after this important mission."
But demand exceeds supply, so the cyber partnership was started "out of a necessity," said Lt. Col. Scott Nelson, the program manager.
"For the Army Reserve and the reserve component writ large to be successful in the cyber career fields, we need to be immensely engaged in this field," he said. "Our soldiers need to be immersed in it, and they need to have civilian jobs in the career field to be successful."
Learning cyber is similar to learning a language, Nelson said.
"If you're not immersing yourselves in the culture and learning from natural speakers, you're going to have a hard time," he said. "If you look at how the Army's going to grow cyber, it's all about immersion."
Technology and the cyber threat are changing every month, Nelson said.
"If you're not immersed in this, you're not a very effective cyber security professional," he said.
By bringing together the military, universities and private companies, the Cyber Private Public Partnership strives to recruit more cyber warriors, improve the skills of those already in the field, connect potential cyber professionals with employers, and generate interest in military and cyber security career fields among middle- and high-school students.
"We tried to design a program so we can build a personnel pipeline from middle school, high school, collegiate level, entry-level and mid-level, and expand their opportunities to get employed and build academic networks," Nelson said.
This is critical as the nation faces a growing cyber threat, officials said. The recent hack of U.S. Central Command's Twitter account as well as the massive hack of Sony Pictures are just two recent examples.
"The biggest challenges in the world can't be solved by governments alone," Talley said.
The six universities partnering with the Reserve on this are University of Washington, Norwich University, George Mason University, Drexel University, University of Colorado, and University of Texas at San Antonio.
The Reserve's 12 corporate partners include Rackspace, Verizon Communications, Microsoft, Chevron and CALIBRE Systems.
The FBI also is partnering in this effort.
The partner universities are looking for ways to sponsor scholarships and provide money for students to get formal academic training in cyber security. This could include folks who have never worked in the field to advanced degrees for cyber professionals looking to improve their abilities, Talley said.
The Reserve had specific criteria when it selected the partnership universities, Nelson said.
Each program focuses on a specific need in the military, such as infrastructure protection or cyber forensics, he said. The Reserve also wanted schools that offered non-traditional courses and distance learning to meet the needs of its soldiers, many of whom have full-time jobs.
Another factor was whether the schools were nationally ranked and accredited, Nelson said.
"If someone wanted to get a cyber-protection degree, this is an opportunity for them," he said. "We'll put as many reservists as we can through the program. We want to make sure the demand meets what the requirements are."
For now, students will have to rely on more traditional ways to pay for school — ROTC scholarships, Tuition Assistance, the GI bill, Nelson said. Plans are in the works to try to secure funding for the program, he said.
As for the employers in the partnership, they cannot guarantee they will hire Reserve soldiers for cyber security jobs, but they have committed to at least interviewing potential candidates, Talley said.
"The Army is downsizing," he said. "We have a lot of active component soldiers leaving the Army. Some may be cyber warriors and want to get a cyber security civilian career and continue doing military cyber. Those are great recruits. Then there are others who are leaving active-duty who need a good civilian career but don't know much about cyber. Those also are great recruits."
The national average entry-level salary for a cyber security professional is more than $71,000 a year, Nelson said.
"This is an opportunity for a fantastic career and a good paying job," he said. "It's in a high-demand field where you'll always have opportunities."
Talley said he expects the partnership to grow and expand in time.
"There are a lot of details in this, everything from how can we do workshops and conferences, [and] we'll even go to middle schools, high schools and undergraduates to create awareness of cyber security and get young men and women starting to think about this as a career they might want to pursue," he said.
This partnership is "just a starting point," Talley said.
The Army Reserve also is studying what its cyber force structure should be, Nelson said.
"Our initial focus is on those really, truly, tip of the spear cyber security defenders in the Army Reserve, but the breadth is going to grow," he said. "We just can't accept the amount of risk we're taking in defense of our networks."
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/guard-reserve/2015/02/16/army-reserve-cyber-partnership/23351603/
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 3
Posted 9 y ago
I've been retired from the computer biz for more than seven years now and my view is extremely dated. (Seven years in computer technology is similar to the difference between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Ages.) However, if the problems that existed then haven't been fixed, we're in real trouble folks.
Generally, our high level cyberwar assets were among the best in the world. Sadly, they had a very narrow focus leaving most of the commercial users of the Internet open to attack. The recent highly publicized attacks on Sony and the very recent bank robbery that may have netted $1 Billion, make me suspect that little has changed.
I remember once being contracted to teach a course in computer application architecture at a public utility. As I awaited the class to begin, I perused their network and later commented to their network administrators that it was highly vulnerable. He was astonished that I could reach any such conclusion inasmuch as the classroom network wasn't supposed to connect to the main network. It did. Less than a month after this incident, a news story appeared in the LA Times that this organization had been hacked by a US government agency that was assessing vulnerabilities in networks at public utilities. The company complained that I must have ratted them out. I hadn't. Still, I was never employed there again.
We shouldn't have any problem getting ahead of this problem. Our children have as great an access to computers as any in the world. My ten year old granddaughter is already playing with object oriented programming using the MIT Open Courseware at home. Now, if only our schools would focus on education instead of indoctrination, we could turn out the best cyber warfare specialists in the world.
Generally, our high level cyberwar assets were among the best in the world. Sadly, they had a very narrow focus leaving most of the commercial users of the Internet open to attack. The recent highly publicized attacks on Sony and the very recent bank robbery that may have netted $1 Billion, make me suspect that little has changed.
I remember once being contracted to teach a course in computer application architecture at a public utility. As I awaited the class to begin, I perused their network and later commented to their network administrators that it was highly vulnerable. He was astonished that I could reach any such conclusion inasmuch as the classroom network wasn't supposed to connect to the main network. It did. Less than a month after this incident, a news story appeared in the LA Times that this organization had been hacked by a US government agency that was assessing vulnerabilities in networks at public utilities. The company complained that I must have ratted them out. I hadn't. Still, I was never employed there again.
We shouldn't have any problem getting ahead of this problem. Our children have as great an access to computers as any in the world. My ten year old granddaughter is already playing with object oriented programming using the MIT Open Courseware at home. Now, if only our schools would focus on education instead of indoctrination, we could turn out the best cyber warfare specialists in the world.
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LTC (Join to see)
8 y
CPT Jack Durish you are right, little has changed. The private sector seems to be satisfied with the appearance of security as opposed to implementing real security. And, the bad guys are getting much better.
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Posted 9 y ago
I've read a bit about this here and there before. It is an awesome first step and a really powerful leveraging tool. I think the Reserves really are the area to grow this speciality as well. Soldiers will show up to drill every month MORE proficient than when they left the prior month. You can't ask for better than that!
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MAJ (Join to see)
9 y
We can definitely leverage the reserve force to continue to build out the newer capability. The Soldier that will possess the talent and desire to perform these type of tasks will be harder to find then some of the other MOS specialties. We will also be challenged to retain but I do believe the legality to "play" will have it's appeal along with the power and access to do so at a higher level. The hope would be to find those who possess the necessary skills mixed with a desire to serve. It will always be more likely to convince someone to give up a weekend and 2 weeks vs your life for x amount of years
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