When it comes to the Air Force's cyber
protection teams, or CPTs as they are better known, officials are at the stage
now where they’re building the aircraft while flying it.
It is all part of a growing effort to mature
defensive cyberspace operations, and CPT members still are writing the playbook
on how they define, map, prioritize and help defend key terrain.
Some strategies are just about as new as cyber
operators themselves, said Col. Chad LeMaire, USAF, vice commander of the 688th
Cyberspace Wing. “What we’re doing in this arena is so new, the average
[operator’s] experience is less than four years,” he said during a panel
presentation at AFCEA International’s TechNet Air 2016 symposium, going on now in San
Antonio. The three-day conference, which stared March 22, ends Thursday.
The Air Force has developed four types of CPTs,
designed to be mission-focused and temporary in nature, or what the military
calls maneuver forces, Col. LeMaire said, although he admitted one CPT has been
working on one mission for years.
The four types include those that are service
reallocated, or assigned to work missions for other military services; teams
assigned to work on the Defense of Defense Information Network (DODIN); teams
assigned to combatant commanders; and national CPTs, or those who work for the
cyber national mission force.
The Air Force’s creation of the CPTs aligns
with the overall Air Force paradigm shift that recasts focus from defending
networks to defending missions, offered panelist Capt. Patrick Gould,
USAF.
Though nascent in nature, it is not like
leaders are reinventing the wheel when it comes to teaching new airmen to
operate in the always changing cyber domain, Col. LeMaire said.
Just as air- or ground-based airmen train, so
do cyber operators. “We are taking proven military planning techniques and
applying it to cyber,” Col. LeMaire said. “The way you go about doing this
stuff is treat it like a proper military operation.”
And just as fighter pilots are sent out on
“missions,” so too are airmen of the CPTs, said Maj. Jeff Crepeau, USAF. Their
laptops are weapon systems—tools with commercial or government capabilities to
conduct their jobs.
What lacks—and is being corrected—are efforts
to enhance airmen's critical thinking and planning skills, offered Maj. Sunil
Amin, USAF.
And a possible expansion of formalized
training. Unlike the preparation methodologies for other units or jobs, which
provide focused training for specific weapons systems once airmen leave
basic training, cyber warriors receive training from one formal unit that
provides the initial qualification training for all of the service’s seven
cyber weapons systems.
When
it comes to the Air Force's cyber protection teams, or CPTs as they are
better known, officials are at the stage now where they’re building the
aircraft while flying it.
It is all part of a growing effort to mature defensive cyberspace operations, and CPT members still are writing the playbook on how they define, map, prioritize and help defend key terrain.
Some strategies are just about as new as cyber operators themselves, said Col. Chad LeMaire, USAF, vice commander of the 688th Cyberspace Wing. “What we’re doing in this arena is so new, the average [operator’s] experience is less than four years,” he said during a panel presentation at AFCEA International’s TechNet Air 2016 symposium, going on now in San Antonio. The three-day conference, which stared March 22, ends Thursday.
The Air Force has developed four types of CPTs, designed to be mission-focused and temporary in nature, or what the military calls maneuver forces, Col. LeMaire said, although he admitted one CPT has been working on one mission for years.
The four types include those that are service reallocated, or assigned to work missions for other military services; teams assigned to work on the Defense of Defense Information Network (DODIN); teams assigned to combatant commanders; and national CPTs, or those who work for the cyber national mission force.
The Air Force’s creation of the CPTs aligns with the overall Air Force paradigm shift that recasts focus from defending networks to defending missions, offered panelist Capt. Patrick Gould, USAF.
Though nascent in nature, it is not like leaders are reinventing the wheel when it comes to teaching new airmen to operate in the always changing cyber domain, Col. LeMaire said.
Just as air- or ground-based airmen train, so do cyber operators. “We are taking proven military planning techniques and applying it to cyber,” Col. LeMaire said. “The way you go about doing this stuff is treat it like a proper military operation.”
And just as fighter pilots are sent out on “missions,” so too are airmen of the CPTs, said Maj. Jeff Crepeau, USAF. Their laptops are weapon systems—tools with commercial or government capabilities to conduct their jobs.
What lacks—and is being corrected—are efforts to enhance airmen's critical thinking and planning skills, offered Maj. Sunil Amin, USAF.
And a possible expansion of formalized training. Unlike the preparation methodologies for other units or jobs, which provide focused training for specific weapons systems once airmen leave basic training, cyber warriors receive training from one formal unit that provides the initial qualification training for all of the service’s seven cyber weapons systems.
- See more at: http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=Blog-air-force-cpts-align-cyber-paradigm-shift-protect-missions#sthash.mkNOJv55.dpuf
It is all part of a growing effort to mature defensive cyberspace operations, and CPT members still are writing the playbook on how they define, map, prioritize and help defend key terrain.
Some strategies are just about as new as cyber operators themselves, said Col. Chad LeMaire, USAF, vice commander of the 688th Cyberspace Wing. “What we’re doing in this arena is so new, the average [operator’s] experience is less than four years,” he said during a panel presentation at AFCEA International’s TechNet Air 2016 symposium, going on now in San Antonio. The three-day conference, which stared March 22, ends Thursday.
The Air Force has developed four types of CPTs, designed to be mission-focused and temporary in nature, or what the military calls maneuver forces, Col. LeMaire said, although he admitted one CPT has been working on one mission for years.
The four types include those that are service reallocated, or assigned to work missions for other military services; teams assigned to work on the Defense of Defense Information Network (DODIN); teams assigned to combatant commanders; and national CPTs, or those who work for the cyber national mission force.
The Air Force’s creation of the CPTs aligns with the overall Air Force paradigm shift that recasts focus from defending networks to defending missions, offered panelist Capt. Patrick Gould, USAF.
Though nascent in nature, it is not like leaders are reinventing the wheel when it comes to teaching new airmen to operate in the always changing cyber domain, Col. LeMaire said.
Just as air- or ground-based airmen train, so do cyber operators. “We are taking proven military planning techniques and applying it to cyber,” Col. LeMaire said. “The way you go about doing this stuff is treat it like a proper military operation.”
And just as fighter pilots are sent out on “missions,” so too are airmen of the CPTs, said Maj. Jeff Crepeau, USAF. Their laptops are weapon systems—tools with commercial or government capabilities to conduct their jobs.
What lacks—and is being corrected—are efforts to enhance airmen's critical thinking and planning skills, offered Maj. Sunil Amin, USAF.
And a possible expansion of formalized training. Unlike the preparation methodologies for other units or jobs, which provide focused training for specific weapons systems once airmen leave basic training, cyber warriors receive training from one formal unit that provides the initial qualification training for all of the service’s seven cyber weapons systems.
- See more at: http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=Blog-air-force-cpts-align-cyber-paradigm-shift-protect-missions#sthash.mkNOJv55.dpuf