Rear Admiral Metts delivers KEYNOTE address to University of the District of Columbia SYMPOSIUM on CYBER SECURITY

Our information warfare officer Flags are actively involved in telling the Navy story and soliciting high quality college graduates to serve our country as naval officers in the Information Dominance Corps. 

Rear Admiral Will Metts, as the Director of Intelligence (J2) for U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland was cited in HISPANIC Engineer Magazine - Spring 2011 for his KEYNOTE address at the University of the District of Columbia SYMPOSIUM on CYBER SECURITY.

Some of the key points of his address:

• THE GENERATIONAL CONVERGENCE OF THE CYBER DOMAIN HAS MODIFIED OUR LIVES AND THE WAYS WE COMMUNICATE, IN A MATTER OF TWO DECADES.
• CYBER SECURITY IS A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE.
• THREATS TO OUR NETWORKS AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE COME FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES INCLUDING FOREIGN ACTORS, TERRORISTS, CRIMINAL GROUPS, AND HACKERS.
• THE COST IN 2008 WAS OVER ONE TRILLION DOLLARS SPENT ON REPAIR COSTS AND LOSS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.
• STARTING TO SEE THESE ATTACKS MOVE FROM NETWORK EXPLOITATION AND DISRUPTION OF NETWORK FUNCTIONS, SUCH AS DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACKS, TO POSSIBLE DESTRUCTION.
• OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS, THE FREQUENCY AND SOPHISTICATION OF INTRUSIONS INTO U.S. MILITARY NETWORKS HAVE INCREASED EXPONENTIALLY.
• EVERY DAY, U.S. MILITARY AND CIVILIAN NETWORKS ARE PROBED THOUSANDS OF TIMES AND SCANNED MILLIONS OF TIMES.
• THE 2008 INTRUSION THAT LED TO OPERATION BUCKSHOT YANKEE WAS NOT THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL PENETRATION. ADVERSARIES HAVE ACQUIRED THOUSANDS OF FILES FROM U.S. NETWORKS AND FROM THE NETWORKS OF U.S. ALLIES AND INDUSTRY PARTNERS, INCLUDING WEAPONS BLUEPRINTS, OPERATIONAL PLANS, AND SURVEILLANCE DATA.
• IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THE THREATS WITHIN THE CYBER DOMAIN, THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS IN ITSELF IS NOT THE ANSWER. AUTOMATED SOULTIONS COMBINED WITH A CYBER-SAVVY WORKFORCE WILL BE NECESSARY.
• BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH IT IS A TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN ENVIRONMENT, TECHNICALLY ADEPT AND TRAINED PEOPLE ARE STILL OUR NUMBER ONE ASSET.
• IT IS GOOD TO BE A “TECHNOLOGIST.”   WHETHER MILITARY, CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT, OR PRIVATE INDUSTRY, SUCCESS FOR ALL OF US IN CYBERSPACE WILL REQUIRE EVERYONE TO BE A BIT “TECHSAVVY.”
• CYBER IS A TEAM SPORT.
• I WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO CONSIDER JOINING THE TEAM. THE NATION CAN NOT BE SUCCESSFUL IN CYBERSPACE WITHOUT A TECHNICALLY ADEPT, TRAINED, AND HIGHLY MOTIVATED WORKFORCE…PEOPLE LIKE MANY OF YOU WHO ARE HERE TODAY. 

Thank you Admiral Metts and Lieutenant Commander Herlong for sharing the Keynote address so it could be highlighted here.   You can read the magazine free in its entirety HERE.