The Armys Current Network Defense System - 1218 Words

While working as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the Army Materiel Command, the command was under constant attack by hackers. The Army’s current network defense system was woefully inadequate for protecting the commands 140 locations worldwide. After sustaining a couple of very high profile attacks using these tools, it became evident that something else was needed. One of the command’s subordinate commands was the Army Research Labs and is on one the foremost research labs in the world. One of the labs mission was Cyber Defense and came under my preview as it program manager. The lab had developed several cyber security tools and had been testing them very successfully on a several platforms. The power of this tool†¦show more content†¦Once we got the system user friendly and developed a training program, I was able to defer the cost of the tools over several agencies. Once we deployed and the agencies began using it, and cut their inci dents to almost none, I was able to partner with them to secure more funding. My cost model, after startup cost, was cheaper to deploy and maintain than commercial off the shelf software, due to the custom code developed internally. Since I provided better and cheaper tools I was able to negotiate maintenance contracts with them and use that funding to further develop my tools. I was also able to politically influence agency standards when it came to cyber defense. Since the tools were developed by the government for the government, agencies was more willing to spend more money than on private tools because the code was more secure. Earlier in my career, while working for the Coast Guard assigned as an intelligence officer and program manager, I was assigned to develop an information sharing system to support the Coast Guard Intelligence activities. In evaluating the situation, it was easy to see that the Coast Guard was technically disadvantaged. At this time, the Coast Guard IT infrastructure consisted of a custom designed workstation, sever and network. It was a head of its time and offered the capability of unclassified agency wide e-mail and file sharing, and in the early 90s this was far beyond other services. The Coast Guard did not