http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/Feb1999/a19990211hacksec.html
Army Signal Command protecting networks from hackers
by Sgt. 1st Class Jim Ward
FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz., (Army News Service, Feb. 11, 1999) -- Soldiers on
patrol in countries spanning the globe are the sentries who keep enemies
at bay. Even as they stand guard at the dawn of the new century, a system
called information assurance is doing likewise -- with them in mind.
Information assurance is the umbrella term for what is a new way to ensure
that the military's computer networks withstand withering attacks from
foreign and domestic hackers.
Leading the charge in this effort is a team of computer networkers and
specialists with the U.S. Army Signal Command. This team has been working
since March 1998 to accomplish a mission handed down from the highest
levels of the defense leadership.
According to Lt. Col. James M. Withers, the head of the team, the team's
charter is simple: devise a strategy that will keep critical networks as
safe from intrusion as possible, and an action plan to help get there.
"Our mission, as outlined by the Army vice chief of staff is to implement
near real time, worldwide, common picture of the Army's Military
Information Environment," Withers said.
This was done by combining the Army's Information Service Provider
functions with the Army Regional Computer Emergency Response Team. This,
according to Withers, ensures that reporting of this common picture of
this Military Information Environment to a central coordination center,
located at Fort Huachuca.
"This action provided the Army Signal Command with an enhanced acquisition
of unified and global near-real-time protect, detect and react
capabilities through the lash-up of these two functions," Withers said.
Withers said that this process involves computer systems specialists from
around the world. These personnel, in tandem with the Army Regional
Computer Emergency Response Team, combine forces to detect hackers and
others as soon as possible before damage can be done.
Computer systems specialists with the 1st Signal Brigade in Korea, the
516th Signal Battalion in Hawaii and the 5th Signal Command in Germany
operate and maintain Network and Systems Operations Centers. These
soldiers and civilians are responsible for the detection effort in their
theaters and report activity to the Army Signal Command headquarters.
Once at the ASC level, Army Network and Systems Operations Center staff
performs over-watch on most of the Army's networks. This is an effort to
keep the networks humming along, providing the information lifeline
soldiers rely on as they perform their peace enforcement role around the
world.
All of this, Withers said, is being done to ensure the Army's critical
circuits and information systems don't fall prey to "cyberterrorists," who
wish to do damage to the Army's ability to protect America. "The Army is
in the lead in this battle thanks to the can-do attitude of the team that
assembled here at ASC headquarters several months ago," Withers said.
Now that the team has slammed the door on these terrorists and locked up
the networks, the need for constant vigilance goes on. That's where the
Regional Computer Emergency Response Team and its theater-level
counterparts come in.
"Without the human element, this mission won't get done. The soldier is at
the tip of the spear," Withers said. "Our team is a part of the process
-- from fort to foxhole."
(Editor's note: Ward is with the U.S. Army Signal Command's Public Affairs
Office at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.)
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Received on Thu Mar 11 17:23:36 1999