At Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity, cybersecurity is a story about doing more with less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MCTSSA does developmental testing and systems engineering, including digital systems. Cybersecurity is a big part of the program, yet that effort runs lean. In matters of cyber, the roster calls for 14 people on the job, but in mid-summer only seven positions were filled. That\u2019s not uncommon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes we see people who have been working on the fundamentals of computers but they don\u2019t have the cybersecurity skills,\u201d said Senior Principal Engineer David Yergensen. \u201cTo hire people who are already experienced is very expensive. We also lose people to industry: Once people have the skills, they get pulled away with offers of promotion somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the demand for cyber solutions ever on the rise, the team must attack the problem strategically, to squeeze the greatest possible level of digital protection out of its limited resources. The finesse lies in weighing the odds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about the risk assessment,\u201d Yergensen said. \u201cEvery system will have some vulnerabilities, but you have to weigh that risk against the effort that it would take to find that vulnerability and the likelihood that an adversary would find it. We have lots of layers of defense to protect our systems, so you weight all that against how much you need the system and how likely it is for this problem to ever arise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, you don\u2019t squander time and effort sewing closed a hole that the adversary probably isn\u2019t going to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the team has found a high-priority bug, or a system with a strong likelihood of being breached, that\u2019s where they focus their attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t test a new system every week,\u201d Yergensen said. \u201cTypically, we are testing the same systems over and over to make sure past problems have been fixed, and maybe digging into areas we didn\u2019t hit the first time. The number of C2 systems is limited, so we can be really tight in our focus over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, MCTSSA is taking part in an overall service effort to build up the cyber workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Building the pipeline<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This spring the Marine Corps created a new cyberspace occupational field. The new job category \u201cwill enable the Marine Corps to continue to compete successfully on future battlefields while enhancing the Marine Corps\u2019 ability to conduct cyberspace operations and improve cyberspace manpower readiness and retention,\u201d the service said in announcing the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just really have to get more return on investment \u2026 and what we want to be able to do is continue to increase our proficiency and skills,\u201d Maj. Gen. Lori Reynolds, commander of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, told Fifth Domain at the time. \u201cWhen you\u2019re constantly moving people out of the cyber workforce, you\u2019re starting over again all the time. That doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new cyber field gives a boost to recruiting and could supplement existing programs that Yergensen said are helping him to identify cyber talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s recruited successfully through the Defense Department\u2019s SMART Scholarship Program, which pays for college in return for a future work commitment. \u201cWe go after them in their junior year, when we can see that they were going to be successful and that they were not going to change majors. Then they get two years of college and we get them for at least two years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Naval Acquisition Development Program has been another helpful feeder. \u201cThey are looking for entry-level people who are new to government,\u201d Yergensen said. \u201cThe Navy pays them for their first two years, so they don\u2019t cost us anything. They get an opportunity to work for two years and if they are successful we guarantee them a job at the end of the two years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
None of this stems the flow of attrition, as cyber workers get lured away by the higher salaries in industry. There\u2019s not a lot Yergensen can do about that. \u201cIf somebody else throws money at them, we can\u2019t get into a competition over that. We need to do the things we do well. We try to be flexible and we try to be competitive, but we still have to work within our budget,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the day, Yergensen said, he is able to run his shop with a less-than-full bench because the people that he has on board can tackle at least 80 percent of the likely cyber perils. Again, efficiency comes down to playing the odds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can get the majority of the benefit with seven people, so we don\u2019t spend as much time and energy recruiting the other seven just to get that last 20 percent,\u201d Yergensen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the demand for cyber solutions ever on the rise, but recruiting talent a challenge, the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity must squeeze the most out of its limited resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":69311,"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":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[10,106,29,16,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2063],"class_list":["post-22575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyber","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-it-networks","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"BRXYESDEJZA5VEB7XXUU2BISQ4","arc_canonical_url":"\/dod\/marine-corps\/2018\/07\/26\/how-one-marine-corps-program-focuses-on-the-cyber-talent-deficit\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n