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Air Force Seeking Geeks For 'Cyber Command'
An anonymous reader writes "Wired reports that the two-star general in charge of the US Air Force's new Cyber Command is looking for hacker-types to beef up its cadre of cyber warriors — no heavy lifting required. 'We have to change the way we think about warriors of the future,' General William Lord says. 'So if they can't run three miles with a pack on their backs but they can shut down SCADA system, we need to have a culture where they fit in.' The Cyber Command is the Air Force's first new Major Command since the early 1990s. Its purpose is to be able to win an electronic war with China and other potential adversaries."
I question their ability to attract the best hackers. Military culture is kinda sorta the complete and total opposite of geekdom. It is encouraging that they realize that some culture change on their part is necessary, but change comes very slowly to the military (with good reason! who wants a flaky military?)
expandfairuse.org
It doesnt matter how bad the job may be, someone will always apply... but what does their "sorry attempts to recruit" have to do anything with the actual job they would be doing? or even the benifits they may receive for said job?
I can easily see someone with the "right stuff" applying because of the medical insurance, or maybe even because they hate another country... the military has never really been against that, nevermind the "ladder" effect that such a Job could climb... after 10 years maybe they'd end up being the head of the NSA or something...
Me personally, i'd be ruled out (instantly because im Canadian) because I'd inevitably faulter and forgo my secret plot to give away their secrets... "tee hee"...
> I was just about to comment on how the words "war with China" is worrying enough in and of itself.
> Why say things like that?
EXACTLY!!
How about trying to win PEACE with China instead?
Max.
Indeed it is not.
We had plans on how to fight against Britain after World War II. Britain. You know, the limeys? The guys who held out against the Third Reich, and were pretty good allies?
The military isn't around for love and flowers; the military's there to kick ass and take names. This isn't, "LOL HAY GUYZ WE'RE ATTACKING CHINA!", it's, "Hey, what if we got into a war with China? Yeah, let's figure out a plan so we don't get our asses kicked."
It's not so much anti-china so much as anti-whoever-is-really-hacking-us.
China is currently #1 on that list. And they are actively recruiting hackers at their own government agencies for this purpose.
I bet a lot of guys who are not anarchists would jump at the chance to work with NSA-style tech. Think about someone who's into cryptography and then think about what htey'd be doing for this group. I know the AF isn't the NSA, but plenty of my SINGINT buddies in the AF, Army, and Navy were tasked out to NSA. That's where all the cool intel happens.
I got stuck humping radios for a living.
Put identity in the browser.
As a member of the USAF, here's my take on military benefits:
;)
Guaranteed housing. Either you're on base for free, or you get housing allowance (Single E4 in DC area = $1300/month).
Guaranteed food. Either you eat in the chow hall for free, or you get an allowance (~$270/month)
Guaranteed health care, 100%. Go to sick call/hospital pretty much whenever you need to. Includes dental and optician.
Guaranteed work. Whether you want it or not.
Commissary and BX are tax free.
30 Days of Leave a year plus holidays and weekends. Only 9-to-5 workers get actual weekends and holidays off though, the rest of us (operational AF, operators) 2 and 3 and sometimes 4 day breaks thrown in. Regardless, you still get paid 12 months a year, but can take one of those months off. Or save those days (up to 60).
Being Deployed has extra benefits. And I'm not sure CyCom would even deploy into a live fire warzone.
And just being military can have benefits too ($55 lift tickets at Breck, and 15% off food).
As well as other stuff the above mentioned; Space-A flights for free, USAA, retirement after 20 years (50% of your last base pay).
And then there's the cool factor of being stationed in Germany or Italy or Japan for 2+ years (assuming CyCom will have shops in said countries).
AND...if a career field is undermanned, they'll actually give bonuses for re-enlistment equal to Multiplier * Monthly Base Pay * Years of re-enlistment. Multiplier based on how much they need people in the career field. I imagine CyCom fields would be pretty high once it starts rolling, x4 or x5.
The pay is not too shabby IMO. Base pay is not as high as civilian, but other stuff does go a ways to make up for it (see above).
Obviously, you can't quit whenever you want to. Contract obligations and all that.
You also have to maintain a fitness standard. That means a reasonable waist and weight (or BMI) and a decent 1.5 mile run time. Pushups and situps also count, but only for very little.
It ain't a dream job, but it's been pretty freaking awesome for me. First tour was in Germany, now I'm in DC, next stop; who knows?
For you "420" types...stay the fuck out of my military. There is a 100% Urinalysis policy. You will be piss tested, you will be caught.
\obviously i'm biased in favor
I for one think the recent political actions of China are infinitely interesting. While we have been obsessing over fuelling our cars, they have been perfecting the art of information warfare, and they have done pretty well for themselves :-)
When I worked as head security analyst for my university, every day I fended off attacks from various kids in eastern Europe and Brazil etc. They used basic exploits (poorly), and left logs everywhere, so they were never that much trouble to track down. Every time I get the chance to talk to someone in the military, or ex=military, I ask them about titan rain, and the stories are always the same.
They bust through network appliances as if they were nothing, land minimal amounts of code on systems they pass through, take what they want, and leave. Of course, this is what any skilled hacker looks like, but the level of persistence, agility, and discipline these people demonstrate boggles the mind. These people do not get excited, do not get distracted, and do not take breaks.
In general, American hackers are much more concerned about the lulz. Even the ones that do jobs for CIA, NSA etc just do it for fun. They are damn good at it, but the US is far from having cyber assault teams at the level of the Chinese military.
Disclaimer: Many of my impressions are from strangers, and friends of friends etc. These are all just rumours. Some might be exaggerations, some might be lies.
But don't they realize that people smart enough to do their hacking are also smart enough to see through their sorry attempts to recruit them?
Count me in that group. Before you laugh, It wasn't the Air Force, but Navy. I went through the Advanced Electronics program. In six years, I got training (ISCET Certified) experiance, and no student loan. It gave me a head start in the recession in the 1980's when nobody was hired without experiance. I passed plenty of college grads into the field due to the education and experiance. I basicaly had a Geek job while in the service. I never carried a pack, seldom used dress blues, etc. Most times it was work attire and keep your haircut and shoes in shape. In the late 1970's I was working with a PDP11. Not too many schools in the 1970's had one you could learn. I qualified on a sidearm, but never was assigned one.
Don't knock geek training without a student loan.
The truth shall set you free!
Only the old-timers will remember the days when we used spooky coloured one-character-at-a-time terminals,
No, old timers remember ECL logic card computers driving a Mod 28.
http://railroad-signaling.com/tty/tty.html
Were were really impressed when our first dot matrix KSR showed up, the DEC KSR Keyboard Send Recieve unit arrived.
http://www.recycledgoods.com/item/15910.aspx
A few years later, we got our first screen display.
The truth shall set you free!
I forget where I read the article about military trained CEOs... apparently, they kick butt on Wall Street vs we college geeks. Lots of theories were stated... but when a guy can work for a seriously screwed up organization, be given screwed up goals and sorry resources, and still succeed in motivating his men and accomplishing the important goals... well that seems to translate real well into succeeding as a CEO in Dilbert land.
I've got a real soft spot for the Air Force (my Dad flew F102s, and is the guy in the official F102 post-card). Too bad there's no low impact way of helping out, kinda like the Army Reserve, but for geeks.
Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
"It's about evolving out of the cult of death into the cult of life with no one left behind."
Give me your lunch money, loserboy nerd. There have been a fuckload of turdbrains with those la-di-da lily-painted little fantasies and guess what, lily-painted shit is still shit.
Humans are what they are. We are predators. We are competitive. We have evolved to be this way and there's nothing besides a thin layer of pretense of civilization and delusion of morality to keep us from preying on each other.
Actually, we do: whether as criminals preying on citizens or as corporate predators perfectly willing to wreck the lives of thousands in order to maximize their own profits, we do it all the time. That's our nature. We can't change it. We can CONTROL it after accepting it.
Have you been to school? Probably yes. Then you know that school is the place where you learn to learn in order to live, or some other BS. In reality school is where I, as the biggest bully, will steal your lunch money and submit you to endless torture and humiliation just for the sake of it. Do you think there's a reason beyond my -and my peers' - acts of random meanness towards you? Do you think we have some plan "Hey, tomorrow we'll get this loser here, we'll bash his head against a locker, dunk him into the toilet and then shit on his face"?
No. We do it because at the moment we feel like it. It's not even personal.
And then, as adults, we do the same but this time with a reason. As boys, we were predator cubs learning the moves. As adults we prey on the weak.
That's our nature. That's humanity. That's all there is to it. Deal with it or suicide.
Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
I worked for a gentleman that was a Captain in the Navy. This guy was older than dirt, but surprised the hell out of me with how computer literate he was. He was fit, active, intelligent and an adept computer user. You might say so what, there are lots of older people who are in shape, intelligent and know their way around the keyboard.
He was 94 years old when he passed on and taught me plenty about computers. He was already 33 years old when ENIAC was unveiled. He was working until his last days because he enjoyed it so much. Perhaps the amusing part was at the funeral we had remind ourselves that we were shocked at his death at 94 due to his clear mind, and active lifestyle. If you met him, you wouldn't have thought he was a day older than 70. I'd say if someone is shocked at your passing at age 94, then you probably were doing it right.
Certainly a fossil, but far from petrified.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
All other things being equal, do you think a Bachelor's degree would be worth it when I already have military experience and a CCNA certification?
Many employers look at military as at least a Bachelor's degree and are able to start you at a late apprentice level. I went right to Journeyman when I got my ISCET Journeyman certification. Many places have HR departments that understand Military is compressed specialty training. This is valuable in the technical fields as you didn't spend half your time in liberal arts classes. I still have no college sheepskin, but I am working as an engineering technician in R&D. If I went for the sheepskin, I could easly gone on to a full engineer. So yes, depending on your goals, the degree is worth it. Challange as many classes as possible so you don't waste your time.
At the time I got out of the service, my goals were to be stable in unstable times. (1981) Engineers were often hired to fix a problem or complete a project and spent the rest of the time looking for work. (remember the 1980's where engineering degrees would get you a job flipping burgers? I never worked in fast food ever.) I liked the hands on tech stuff, so instead of persuing money, I picked a field where I could play and get paid for it. I never had the 9-5 blues. For steady work, I worked repair in high end audio/video. It was cutting edge, new and ever changing. Later I worked a contract to do 2 way Motorolla trunked system repair/programming and service. On the side we had a contract to keep a local radio station on-air. I got to fix the transmitter after it took a lighting hit. It was a little spooky working with the 5KV 10KW power supply. It was interesting and varied work for someone without a degree. There is a lot of work for someone with proper military training. Any extra certifications you get is a bonus. For me it is low voltage and broadcast. I finaly got an offer to move into R&D and I have been here since.
It always pays to keep on learning. You can easly pick up side stuff. I am building a home recording studio (On Linux). On another front, I'm using much of my tech training to move into theatratical lighting. I have a current project on the side designing the lighting system for a new church. I have convinced them to ditch the set of light switches by the door and go with a proper dimmer pack that talks both wall stations (so the janitor can come in any door and turn on the lights) and talk DMX-512 so the lighting director can run all the specialty luminares along with the house lights from the lighting desk/soundboard workstation. Part of the job it to establish the load requirements. The pastor had no idea why I wanted at least 2 20 amp circuits minimum to each truss. Part of the job is customer education. People skills are a must. Instead of $20 wall dimmers, the advantages of a $3,000 dimmer pack and $250 wall stations needs to be explained. It comes as a shock when they learn 2 20 circuits isn't going to run a dozen Par 64 fixtures and the 12 house light fixtures take 8 100 watt bulbs each. (500 to 1,000 watts each fixture) It's fun work. If you get the right training, you can get paid for playing, but you gotta have a skill someone will pay you for. The more you know, the more you are worth.
I can name 5 different 12 channel 2400 watt/channel wall mount dimmer packs by 5 manufactures that will do wall stations and mix with DMX-512 and the advantages of each and which need an option board to enable it at additional cost. I know on single phase power they require a 120 amp 240 volt circuit for each pack. Know your stuff and you will be valuable. Keep learning. DMX-512 didn't exist when I started. Now it is part of what I do.
The truth shall set you free!
I can't be the only dude from the EU who has noticed a slow rise in anti-China stuff on slashdot?
/.
Do other news sources in the US have this slant? Because looking at it from the outside, it's like the US^H^H^H^H Fox News is seeking a new bogeyman now the cold war is over. Unfortunately some of this is rubbing off on a more intellegent news source like
Ok, I'm American. I'm also an avowed Bush hater, GOP despiser, and I think CEO business criminals should be hung by their short and curlies. I think creatonists are whackjob fundies every bit as dangerous as the whackjob fundie Muslims.I think the Democrats in Congress are enablers, different from the Republicans only in name. I think they are simply two different factions of the Moneyed Party. I feel that our government and business leaders are criminals who enrich themselves to the public's detriment. I heartily agree with the quote "Man will not be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." Anyone on the right would see me as a bomb-throwing marxist, possibly an antichrist.
Ok, that being said, I think China will be our next enemy. One can make a comparison to the rise of Japan in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Japan was on the way to becoming a world power, saw Asia as a proper sphere of influence, and resented Western efforts to meddle in their affairs. War came because the stupid, conceited, short-sighted and arrogant militarist fanatic dickwads in charge of Japanese society drank their own Kool-Aid, believed their own propaganda, and thought they could take on the West in a fight. They probably could have accomplished their goals of self-determination and control of western influence if they didn't go about it like such arrogant cocks. Instead, they alienated all of the other asiatic nations, plus brought the US into the war in such a fashion as to guarantee total war and a destruction of the Japanese empire. Of course, the imperialism the Japanese wanted to engage in was really no different from the arrogant douchebaggery of the West. We only look like good guys when compared to the inhuman barbarity of the imperial Japanese. They were fucking monsters. At any rate, the West stumbled into this war ignorant and unprepared. Intelligent people saw it coming but they were ignored until it was too late.
So, what's with China? They're a newborn superpower. The humiliation of occupation by the West still burns for them and they have a long cultural memory. There's a sense of unity and nationalism present in China and they feel they have a destiny to fulfill in the world. This is the kind of energy required for growth and empire-building, seen when the US was young, seen when Britain built her world-spanning empire, etc. The oligarchy in China is full of greedy old men who aren't quite sure how to ride the tiger they've found themselves mounted upon. They want the economic benefit that comes with capitalism but they don't want to give up the tight control provided by a bastardized marxist economy. They want to have their cake and eat it, too. China is rapidly changing from a giant third world cesspool of little important economic activity to a first-rate manufacturing juggernaut. Short-sighted and idiotic American businessmen are happily selling out their nation by sending all the manufacturing to China, living up to Lenin's observation that "the capitalists will sell you the rope you use to hang them with." China is also buying up much of America's foreign debt. Depending on which way this breaks, it could either be seen as utterly brilliant or a total cockup. Holding the debt gives China an enormous cudgel to beat America with. At the same time, without America's markets, they'll have no one to sell their shoddily-made crap to. The thinking might be that China's own domestic markets will grow to the point where they can utilize the production and use that for internal development and growth. But if the US has a financial collapse, China will be like the shopkeeper
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I with you man, I spent four years in the Army as an intel joe. I never actually did my job though, I spent all of time working with a very expensive and critically important satcom system. I kept the commercial hardware in that system running through two 1 year deployments, broken AC units, dirt, dust, rough weather, shaking, jostling, and generally piss poor conditions. I designed the ACE 2000 system as my leadership called it when I wasn't keeping the system running and managed all the storage needs that we had. All this on my own knowledge and constant learning which I have never stopped doing. Now I work in Aerospace working on the big FC SAN systems, Big Iron servers, massively parallel processing environments, and large scale virtual environments. I'm also thinking about a job that is Senior level storage administration which has better pay and better hours so that I can finish my Comp Sci degree, all before I'm 25.
"Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes."-Tycho
you wouldn't expect TSgt Luddite to go clean a toilet would you???
That's where you're dead wrong. Maybe when you hit SMSgt you're safe from that sort of thing, but I see TSgts cleaning toilets EVERY SINGLE DAY (I stick to mopping, personally).
The real benefits: free medical (though sketchy and ugly at times, it's free nonetheless), pension (hey, it's something), 30-day leave policy (though I once had a duty section where long forecasted leave was denied far more than approved) and definitely TA/GI Bill.