|
Colorado Army National Guard information technology Soldiers
mentored a student Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cyber team
for the U.S. Air Force Association 2017 CyberPatriot National Youth
Cyber Defense competition.
Through a mutually beneficial
partnership, COARNG Citizen-Soldiers coached students at Denver
North High School on how to defend against cyber-attacks.
|
April 1, 2017 - U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert Heflin,
Colorado Army National Guard telecommunications manager (left) witth
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps students and managers from
Denver North High School as the students display their certificates
of appreciation from the U.S. Air Force Association 2017
CyberPatriot, National Youth Cyber Defense competition. (Photo
courtesy of Retired U.S. Army Maj. Scott Lynch)
|
Cyber defense is not a new mission for the Colorado National
Guard. The COARNG created a Defensive Cyber Operations Element in
1999, in order to address the Y2K issue. The DCOE has grown over
time as cyber threats evolved. Today, a 10-person cyber team helps
defend the National Guard network, which receives more than 100,000
cyber-attacks each week. Governor John Hickenlooper can also call
upon the DCOE to assist with defensive cyber operations during a
cyber incident affecting the state.
A new Colorado Army
National Guard cyber protection team will soon assist with regional
and national cyber defense. The CONG is actively recruiting
personnel to fill open positions in this cyber protection team, or
CPT, shared with neighboring Utah, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
The team will provide cyber defense within FEMA region eight.
The CyberPatriot competition, first held in 2009, has itself
exploded in scope from a local event held at the AFA’s annual
symposium with only eight school teams from the Orlando, Fla., area,
to more than 4,400 teams across the country this year. Denver
North’s JROTC team is one of 152 teams from Colorado alone.
The competition is one of three key elements of the CyberPatriot,
National Youth Cyber Education Program. Its mission is to inspire
students to pursue careers in cybersecurity or other science,
technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines critical to the
future of the nation. Competitions are held at the state, regional
and national levels.
The genesis of COARNG’s involvement with
Denver North High School came from U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer
Robert Heflin, telecommunication manager, and the CONG Assistant
Adjutant General- Cyber, Space, and Missile Defense U.S. Army Brig.
Gen. Michael Willis. Willis asked COARNG Deputy Director of
Information Management U.S. Army Lt. Col. Isaac Martinez to explore
cyber-related community engagement projects based upon the CONG’s
Connect Colorado initiative. Heflin began searching more than two
years ago for competitions that the COARNG could enter. When
Martinez mentioned Willis’ idea to Heflin, he said that he
remembered the Youth Cyber Defense Competition from those previous
searches and thought that affiliating with a local school would be a
great idea.
“Once we spoke with the school they immediately
jumped on the opportunity. They were so motivated, they agreed to
compete within a day or two of contacting them,” Heflin said.
Not only was the timeline for entry into the competition tight,
the first events were only weeks away. Heflin and three other
Soldiers involved in the program had less than a month to determine
if the relationship would work and submit an application for the
team.
“After they signed up, we conducted about two hours of
training before the first practice round. We used that practice as a
training and familiarization event,” Heflin said.
Working
with the students twice a week from October through January, COARNG
Soldiers, led by Heflin, provided cyber defense training in Windows
and Ubuntu operating systems, hardening those systems, detecting
vulnerabilities, and mitigating those vulnerabilities.
During the practice and qualifying rounds of the competition, the
team received a download package with instructions, questions, and a
simulated cyber machine environment (virtual system). The team had
six hours to identify and solve a series of 15-20
problems/vulnerabilities with their virtual system and answer a
series of multiple-choice cyber-related questions.
The
Denver North JROTC team scored second place in the Colorado
All-Service Division (JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and Naval Sea
Cadets), just missing the cut-off by a small margin to attend the
national competition in their very first year.
“It's a great
opportunity for us to support our youth to create the excitement for
cyber and develop future cyber warriors.” Martinez said. “I am very
proud of Chief Heflin for his efforts to build a new program at our
local inner-city high school. He is a dedicated Soldier who wants to
continue to give back to the community.”
The relationship is
about more than just the competition. While COARNG’s connection with
the community deepens, it fosters inner-city youth interest in
cyber, potentially motivating students to consider careers in cyber
that meet community, state and national needs for cyber talent.
COARNG can also mentor students as leaders and develop Soldiers’
skills to plan and conduct cyber training.
“Building
relationships that encourage our young men and women to pursue
careers in cyber and other STEM fields is a critical step towards
ensuring we have both the military and civilian workforce necessary
to protect our nation and ensure our economic viability in the
future.” Willis said. “In order to have the diverse workforce we’re
going to need then, we have to invest in diverse young people now.”
By U.S. Army Capt. Ronald Bailey, Colorado National Guard
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
Comment on this article |
