AMC Cyber Airmen lock down big awards and wrap up National Cyber Security Awareness Month

by Maj. Jon Stock
AMC

11/7/2014 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Air Mobility Command cyber teams have recently been awarded both civilian and military awards for leading the command in cyberspace operations and support.
Wrapping up a successful National Cyber Security Awareness Month and a weekly informational campaign throughout the command, the AMC Directorate of Communications "Enterprise Architecture Team" was awarded the 12th Annual Enterprise Architecture Award for "Leadership in Government Transformation - Defense," from the Federated Enterprise Architecture Certification Institute (FEACTM), and Zachman International® on Oct. 30 at the Enterprise Architecture Conference in Washington D.C.

The team was recognized for developing a Consolidated Architecture Tools Suite (CATS) with an underlying Oracle database to capture the command's data, services, and enterprise-level processes to provide leadership with reliable enterprise data to further increase their ability to analyze and make strategic command decisions.

Team members recognized were Mrs. Jo A. Brown-Leiker; Mr. Al H. Albers, Jr.; Mrs. Teresa L. Oeth; Ms. Faith A. Hale; Mr. Joseph J. Butchko, MITRE; Ms. Laura J. Campbell, MITRE; and Mr. Harry W. Gore, MITRE.

Another AMC team recognized for cyber achievements was the 375th Communications Support Squadron's USAF Air Mobility Command KC-10 Load Management System Team that won the "2014 Government Computer News Award for IT Achievement."

The team met the growing demand of app development for smartphones and tablets by pursuing inexpensive methods to become self-taught and develop a KC-10 load management app that decreased the amount of load time by more than 40 minutes.  Also, sharing their code with other teams developing similar apps saved the Air Force another $30,000.

"Recognizing Airmen who do the cyberspace mission for AMC and our Air Force is a great way to wrap up National Cyber Security Awareness Month," said Colonel Rob Lyman, the AMC Director of Communications and Chief Information Officer. "I'm not surprised that some have been recognized as the best in the nation, not just in military circles, but across the sector. They continue to do great things for our nation."

This is evidenced throughout the Command just recently with the Annual General John P. Jumper for Excellence in Warfighting Integrations and Information Dominance Awards.  These are a compilation of all Cyber AFSCs from across the MAJCOM competing in over 40 categories.  Here are just a few of AMC's MAJCOM-level winners in Cyber Security.

SrA Janson B. Egloff, 628th Communications Squadron, JB Charleston, SC.  He is a 3D052, Cyber Systems Operations Journeyman.  He tackled his wing's recent Commanders Cyber Readiness Inspection, helping to earn an "Excellent" by ensuring 46,000 patches were implemented, eliminating over 136 thousand cyber risks.  In addition, he was responsible for enforcing Personal Identification Verification (PIV) Certificate Activation for Network Administrators.  This technology allows the elimination of 16 character passwords and now allows Network Administrators to use their Common Access Card (CAC) instead.  This greatly enhances network security and controls.

SSgt Luong H. Phan, 60th Communications Squadron, Travis AFB, CA.  He is a 3D072, Cyber Systems Operations Craftsman.  He was responsible for launching a Personal Information (PII) digital enforcement tool, advancing his wing's information security posture.  This helped protect over 12,000 users PII.   In addition, he detected major network vulnerabilities, authoring code to detect and ratify backdoor access eradicating 175 violations.  Lastly, he designed complex "phishing" scenarios evaluating real world cyber-attack vectors during his wing's first Cyber Training Exercise.

"Securing our physical and cyber infrastructure, helping to modernize it, and making it more resilient are a crucial part of our national security effort," said Senior Master Sergeant Ray Tuggle, Superintendent, AMC/A6 Director's Action Group.  "This is a team effort and you have to lead by example."

All in all, AMC's cyber professionals are working hard to make a difference in awareness and its application to protect our nation's premier weapon system now and into the future.