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Scott Airmen sharpen skills during 'hack-a-thon'

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joshua Eikren
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Illinois --  Air Force cyber Airmen are constantly being challenged to develop their skills, and two of them recently placed second in a local cyber-security competition.

First Lt. Bradford Law, 38th Cyberspace Readiness Squadron, and 1st Lt. Paul Jordan, Air Force Space Command Cyberspace Support Squadron, both from Scott AFB, participated in a "hack-a-thon" where competitors solved real-world problems by programming software.

Law and Jordan participated June 5-7 in GlobalHack IV where their team, Illinois Devs, placed second and earned a group prize of $15,000. GlobalHack is a St. Louis nonprofit that says it looks to "bring together developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to solve a real-world technology problem for a real-world customer."

"Events like these help keep my software development skills sharp and help further develop my critical thinking and problem solving skills," said Jordan. "These events present a tremendous opportunity for personal and professional growth in my career field and they're a lot of fun, too."

Jordan currently works on Air Force-level cyber plans and programs for Air Force Space Command like the Base Information Transport Infrastructure, which provides a secure wireless infrastructure, including features such as intrusion detection, monitoring, and central administration that incorporates high-availability and multi-tiered network administration for wireless entry into local area networks at 97 Air Force bases worldwide.

"While competing in a hack-a-thon isn't directly in line with what I'm doing today, our career field is expected to be able to write and understand software source code to a certain extent," said Jordan. "In certain jobs, our sole responsibility may be to develop, evaluate, or assess the risk of web applications like the one we developed at this competition. These types of events help us hone those skill-sets when we might normally let them soften in jobs like this."

For Law, he's a part of an influx of cyber positions at Scott, where he works on the Cyber Protection Team, or CPT, that was started last year. The CPT is currently in the process of growing two new squadrons that will reside here and perform work with different partners to provide mission assurance.

"Most of our positions don't work with coding (the type of hacking that GlobalHack IV was promoting), however our career field (17SXX for officers and 1B4XX and 3D1XX for enlisted) usually draws in a certain type of Airman," said Law. "Many of our 1B4s have cross-trained from other career fields, so they decided they wanted to be cyber."

Law and Jordan are also a part of the Military Cyber Professionals Association, where they have dedicated their time to the development of the military cyber profession through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education.

"With the MCPA we first got involved in a local hack-a-thon by volunteering as mentors for a student hack-a-thon back in April," said Jordan. "Globalhack IV was being advertised there, and Bradford and I put together a team."

For both of them, this was the first time participating in a Globalhack, but that didn't stop them from learning what they were made of.

"I'd never participated in anything like this before, since I wasn't a 'professional' coder/developer," said Law. "But I was wrong that that would be a limitation or not make us competitive. The biggest thing I took away from the event was increased confidence in my abilities from going up against professional developers and being competitive."

This event was also an opportunity for them to meet people and open doors to other hack-a-thons and professional career growth.

"The skills I've learned on the clock with the Air Force dovetailed perfectly with the skills I brought with me and those I've developed off the clock," said Law. "This event illustrated several lessons that I have taken with me: It's important to be able to work in a team, but it's also important to know your mission and task well enough that you can produce when you're on your own."

According to both Law and Jordan, being a part of the Cyber career field takes certain types of individuals who "eat, sleep, and drink it, even at home."

"Cyber is such a complex domain, but it's all built on software," said Jordan. "Events like this not only challenge the technical ability of the competitors, but also the problem and critical thinking skills. Being proficient with a programming language isn't required for my career field, but it certainly helps."

Both of them look to continue to participate in events like this, as well as create educational opportunities that benefit military members.

"It was also a way to represent the Air Force," said Law. "I'd like to see more representation from the Air Force at events like this, because I know we have a lot of talented people in Cyber at Scott and we're getting more every day."

Through the MCPA they will be hosting their own event, "Capture the Flag 2015," for people of all ages to "learn skills, hone existing techniques, and prove their savvy in a controlled and safe but realistically simulated virtual environment."

For more information about MCPA, visit http://public.milcyber.org.