FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. – Navy Reserve Sailors secured the U.S. Navy’s unclassified pc networks from exterior threats throughout Operation Cyber Dragon at U.S. Fleet Cyber Command (FCC), March to August 2022.
Greater than 100 Reserve Sailors had been tapped by FCC to execute this essential mission at a time when there’s a real-world risk of cyber assaults. This operation additionally established a brand new workflow for future missions the place the depth and expertise of Reserve Sailors could possibly be utilized.
Cyber Dragon was performed in two phases this 12 months—the primary in early spring and the second part through the summer season. Chief Warrant Officer Scott Bryson, who works in Defensive Our on-line world Operations and Division of Protection Data Community Operations Division, oversaw the operation.
“We recognized that [the Navy] had a [considerable amount of] identified points throughout the DoD community,” mentioned Bryson. “Operation Cyber Dragon is an effort to establish and resolve vulnerabilities inside the Navy’s unclassified community.”
To do that, Bryson acknowledged the necessity to operationalize a sizeable staff of Reserve Sailors inside a brief time frame. As a result of the operation targeted on unclassified networks, he was in a position herald Reserve Sailors to an unclassified web site to execute the mission. He solid a large internet, in search of Navy Reserve Sailors each inside and out of doors the command, no matter cyber or data expertise expertise.
“I can present you what to do, after which I’ll set you free,” Bryson mentioned.
Petty Officer 2nd Class David Lucas, a Yeoman from Wichita, Kansas who usually does administrative work, was one among about two dozen who volunteered for the primary part of the operation.
“This was totally different than something I’ve ever used earlier than, however it was very intuitive,” mentioned Lucas. “As soon as they defined to me what the [terms] all meant,…and as soon as I received the fundamentals down, it was a lot simpler.”
“I’m a truck driver for UPS,” mentioned Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Manzano, who volunteered for the second part. “So all of the cyber stuff is new to me. Day one was fairly tough. I did rather a lot homework once I went again to my room. Day two was extra trial and error, and day three, I picked it up and ran with it.”
Reserve Sailors like Manzano and Lucas, with no or little technical expertise,had been teamed up with those that had extra, like Lt. Blake Blaze.
“I work for an schooling expertise firm, a startup…we make information science instruments for highschool universities,” Blaze mentioned. “So Manzano and I had been teammates. We had been paired with the identical enterprise unit…and there have been some vulnerabilities that we had been in a position to establish and understand these are severe considerations that must be taken care of.”
Bryson says the speedy mission was a transparent success, with almost all vulnerabilities resolved, however it has additionally established a mannequin the place FCC might use Reserve Sailors to carry out this kind of work.
“The fascinating factor within the IT world or the community world is that, what’s patched and 100% compliant at present, won’t be patched tomorrow, as a result of vulnerabilities ebb and movement,” mentioned Bryson.
“This operation demonstrated the energy, responsiveness, and experience our Navy Reserve Sailors supply,” mentioned Rear Adm. Stephen Donald, vice commander, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and deputy commander, U.S. tenth Fleet. “Fleet Cyber Command was in a position to mobilize a staff of Reserve Sailors shortly to execute an pressing mission. With warfighting readiness as our major mission, this was a transparent instance the worth Reserve Sailors present to the protection of the USA.”
Bryson says the cyber assaults will be launched from anyplace and by anybody whether or not it’s a coordinated by one other nation, a rogue actor, or somebody with curiosity, testing out his or her pc abilities. He says this requires being much more agile to remain forward of the threats from all over the world.
“Community cyber hygiene is paramount,” mentioned Bryson. “Our assault floor is all the time going to alter throughout anyone’s community. Whether or not it’s a industrial enterprise, navy or authorities, your assault floor varies on a regular basis from malicious hackers which might be making an attempt to poke and prod you. We’re all the time going to have vulnerabilities.”
Bryson defined that tapping the depth within the numbers and expertise of Reserve Sailors, as Cyber Dragon did, is a perfect option to frequently bolster the Navy’s networks and make sure the Pressure is warfighting prepared.
