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Cyber Security Boot Camp graduates Class of 2006

by Francis L. Crumb

Thirty-five college students from across the nation were recognized Aug. 10 as graduates of the 2006 Advanced Course in Engineering, or ACE, Cyber Security Boot Camp, a 10-week program at the Air Force Research Laboratory information directorate.

This year's class included 19 Air Force cadets, three from the Army, two from the Navy, eight National Science Foundation Fellows and four civilians. Members of the class represented 28 states.

Since arriving here June 1, boot camp participants attended lectures presented by faculty from universities, industry and government covering specific areas in cyber security such as legal issues, security policies, digital forensics or network security. Students were also assigned real-world problems to solve and write reports detailing solutions.

For three days each week, students worked with personal mentors on military and industry projects within the AFRL.

The annual "ACE Hackfest" divided cadets into Red Team attackers, Blue Team defenders and White Team referees as they conducted a large-scale cyber security exercise at the AFRL Rome Research Site Aug. 7 to 8. Each Blue Team was responsible for defending an enclave consisting of a dozen computers.

Each Red Team had the liberty to attack any of the Blue enclaves, with varying objectives of penetration, compromise, data modification and denial of service. The White Team refereed the battle, and scored both Blue and Red teams in their ability to secure or capture flags.

"During the past 10 weeks, cadets were exposed to many of today's front-line network security tools used in commercial and Department of Defense enterprises," said Dr. Kamal Jabbour, ACE director. "A major benefit of being at the Air Force Research Laboratory is the access to real-world training and mentoring. That is something they cannot experience in a college classroom."

The ACE was developed in 2003 to address the challenge of President George W. Bush's national strategy to secure cyberspace by developing top students into the next generation of cyber security leaders.

It was created through a public-private partnership including the AFRL Information Directorate, Syracuse University, the CASE Center of the New York State Office of Science Technology and Academic Research, the Griffiss Institute on Information Assurance and other corporations. The boot camp is a four-credit hour course offered through Syracuse University's L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science.

In 2005, the ACE Cyber Security Boot Camp was approved as an Air Force ROTC Professional Development Training program, one of 10 such programs in the country to carry this designation, and the only program with a formal academic component through its association with Syracuse University.

Source: U.S. Air Force