Commentary: Special month focuses on cyber responsibilities

Released: 26 Jan 1999

WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Our nation's Air Force is an expeditionary aerospace force -- it must be light, lean, and lethal to provide our warfighters with the ability to find, fix, track, target and engage anything of military significance on or above the surface of the Earth.

An important factor that makes an EAF light is "reachback." Here, communications and information networks are a key enabler to linking the lean Air Operations Center-Forward with a wide array of rear echelon supporting activities. This lifeline provides critical, real-time mission data and information necessary to conduct operations in the theater. This is the essence of our core competency of information superiority.

Our networks are weapon systems, so we must protect them as we would protect a fully loaded aircraft on the flightline. Information assurance ensures the "network weapon system" is available and operationally ready to provide the warfighter with the right information in the right time at the right place.

This reliance on our networks is not lost on our adversaries. Our information systems are a target for hackers and crackers, and represent the "crown jewels" of the cyber kingdom.

Dr. John Hamre, deputy secretary of defense, said, "We are entering a period when one individual, or small groups of individuals, are able to wage war on our entire country." The cyber attacks of last year highlight the threat we face and the need for heightened information assurance. To be brutally candid, I view hackers and crackers as the enemy and the inside hacker as a traitor in information warfare.

As the Air Force faces the growing danger of cyber attacks, our greatest countermeasures are vigilance, awareness, education and professional network management. We have professionalized our networks through the deployment of detection, management and protection tools. The key to their effectiveness is well-informed, well-trained network professionals and users.

Information assurance is everybody's business and everyone's participation is crucial. To accomplish this, we have geared up for a month-long Information Assurance Awareness campaign.

"A Risk Accepted by One is a Risk Imposed on All" is the theme of the 1999 Air Force Information Assurance Awareness Month. Throughout February, we will seize the opportunity to heighten all Air Force members' role in providing information assurance. While information assurance professionals shoulder the lion's share of the security burden, everyone shares in this responsibility. We have planned activities to highlight everyone's role in protecting this valuable asset.

Our theme for the first week of February -- "Are You the Weak Link?" -- will focus on your individual responsibilities. Everyone will learn the key players on their information assurance team, check and strengthen their system passwords, ensure they have and use the latest virus scanning software and begin computer-based information-assurance training.

The second week, "Friend or Foe?" informs you about software and files that are and are not safe to download, procedures to follow and the consequences if we do not follow those procedures.

Week three, the "Cyber Challenge" focuses on the threat and intent to damage our systems or steal our data. We'll emphasize everyone's legal and ethical responsibilities and identify where you can go for advice and assistance.

Week four focuses on you, the user, as a "Desktop Defender," and highlights the importance of World Wide Web security. Our weapon of choice is a well-trained, well-informed user who is knowledgeable of the threat and understands and employs the measures and tools to counter this threat.

Web masters get the spotlight shined on them. The chief of staff and the acting secretary of the Air Force have asked all commanders to take a hard look at their web sites. We are still finding too many cases in which sensitive operational and personal data is on our web sites.

Information Assurance Awareness Month will be a success if we all change our passwords, clean the viruses out of our systems, complete network training and certification, have public information only on web sites, and know who to call for help. The month will be a success if everyone understands that we are "information warriors" and have a vital role in information assurance.

As Dr. Hamre has said, "This is an enormously important time, and all of you are on the front lines of a battle we can't afford to lose."

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* Lt. Gen. William J. Donahue