New Leadership Reimagines U.S. Air Force Fighter Fleet Structure

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  June 21, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Raytheon Wins Air Force F-15, C-130 Cyber Contracts

  By COLIN CLARK PARIS AIR SHOW: Raytheon, which has increasingly focused on its growing cyber and network business, has won contracts to find and fix cyber vulnerabilities in the Air Force's F-15 fighter and C-130 transport fleets. Those are the company's latest deals in what is a business worth at least hundreds of millions of dollars in the last 18 months. It's a big shift, says Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon intelligence, information and services. “I think a few years ago there was a lot of talk, and not a lot of action.” But the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act required that all weapons begin to be assessed for cyber vulnerabilities, and the 2019 bill kept pressing ahead. The F-15 and C-130 contracts are among those that have resulted from the NDAA language, Todd Probert, Raytheon's VP for mission support, told me. Because so much of this is classified, Raytheon had to get Air Force permission to talk about the F-15 and the C-130 projects. So what kind of cyber vulnerabilities does an aircraft have? “It's a flying network in and of itself,” Todd said. Aircraft, it turns out, are just as vulnerable as cars, and we've all read stories how hackers have been able to take autos over remotely and stop cars in their tracks. Airplanes have similar points of access, and thus vulnerabilities. Maintainers hook into a plane to find out what's wrong with it. Smart weapons connect to the plane's network. The pilot's helmet mounted display taps into onboard and offboard data. “All these are potential threat vectors we're concerned about,” Todd said. https://breakingdefense.com/2019/06/raytheon-wins-air-force-f-15-c-130-cyber-contracts/

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  April 6, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  In Army’s newest unit, everyone learns cyber skills

  By: Mark Pomerleau Prior to its deployment to Afghanistan, the Army's newest unit received special assistance in cyber and electronic warfare techniques. The 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, or SFAB, is a first of its kind specialized group designed solely to advise and assist local, indigenous forces. As such, these units need specialized equipment and received training from Army Cyber Command on offensive and defensive cyber operations, as well as electronic warfare and information operations, Army Cyber Command commander Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone wrote in prepared testimony before the Senate Armed Services Cyber Subcommittee in early March. The distinct makeup of the unit ― smaller than a typical brigade and lacking all the resources and technical expertise therein ― means the operators at the tactical edge have to do the networking and troubleshooting themselves in addition to advising battalion sized Afghan units. The command's tailored support sought to advise SFAB personnel how best to leverage a remote enterprise to achieve mission effects, according to the spokesman. That means knowing how to perform electronic warfare and cyber tasks are part of every soldier's basic skill set. This was unique support with tailored training to meet the SFAB's advisory role mission, an Army Cyber Command spokesman said. Team members from Army Cyber Command specializing in offensive cyber and defensive cyber to serve as instructors during SFAB's validation exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana in January, a command spokesman told Fifth Domain. Electronic warfare personnel from 1st SFAB were also briefed on how cyber capabilities in use in Afghanistan currently support U.S. Forces. Specifically, the trainers provided the unit's communications teams best practices to harden networks. The Army Cyber Command team discussed planning factors working with down-range networks and mission relevant cyber terrain with the SFAB, specifically, the need to maintain situational awareness of the blue network and ability to identify key cyber terrain, the Army Cyber Command spokesman said. The unit was also given lessons on implementing defensive measure using organic tools. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/army/2018/04/05/in-armys-newest-unit-everyone-learns-cyber-skills/

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  June 6, 2024 | International, Security

  Hackers Exploit Legitimate Packer Software to Spread Malware Undetected

  Threat actors are now exploiting legitimate packer software to distribute malware. Learn how BoxedApp is being abused to target financial institutions