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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMaj. Gen. Ed Wilson, head of 24th Air Force and Air Forces Cyber.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Air Force<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n “How do we educate the airman that has nothing to do with the cyberspace operations mission? How do we make that airman aware of the effect it could have on [their] mission?” he said. “We’ve really paid attention to the initial training, the intermediate-level training, and the advanced training required.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Cyber hygiene,” as it’s sometimes known, ranges from being careful what links you click on in an e-mail to not using thumb drives, Wilson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet cybersecurity is going to require both top-down and bottom-up efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We need some really high-end experts thinking about the big, top strategic problems for not just the Air Force and DoD, but the nation,” Wilson said. “But we’ve got to be smart and get out and touch each of the young airmen out there. Sometimes our junior folks are best at it, they’ve grown up around it, they’re cyber natives.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Air Force started Task Force Cyber Secure this spring, with a goal of studying and addressing the most pressing cybersecurity concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With recent high-profile hacks \u2014 including of government records \u2014 the cyber threat is only going to increase, experts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In terms of the potency of the threat, you really have to look at Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Those are the big nation state threat actors,” Wilson said. “When we look at Russia and China, they clearly developed the advanced cyber capabilities and strategies that pose increasing threats.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Right now there isn’t a lot of transparency about countries’ cyber operations, Wilson said, something that he’s concerned could lead to “instability or escalation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Air Force is also partnering with industry, including “cooperative research and development agreements,” Wilson said, where business and the Pentagon are studying advancements in cyber technologies and strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Air Force has 28 such agreements, and looks to set up more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s all part of trying to stay on top of the ever-changing field of cyber security, Wilson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I went to the Air Force Academy, which is probably one of the more cutting edge universities,” he said. “We had typewriters and HP calculators. The Air Force looks very different today.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Air Force is rapidly deploying and fielding cyber capabilities and defenses, but at the same time the threats are increasing, says Maj. Gen. Ed Wilson, head of 24th Air Force and Air Forces Cyber.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":71804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[16,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1813],"class_list":["post-39148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ETCMRWGP7ZHVNET3FDCPXLXU5E","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2015\/09\/12\/cyber-commitment-grows-to-meet-increased-threat\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n