ARMY TAPS RESERVISTS WITH CYBER SKILLS TO FIGHT TERROR

Tech experts are being recruited to diminish jihadist group’s fundraising and communications networks

Adecade ago, he was a young army soldier training Iraqi troops when he noticed their primitive filing system: handwritten notes threaded with different colours of yarn, stacked in piles. For organisation’s sake, he built them a simple computer database.

Now an army reservist, the major is taking a break from his civilian hightech job to help America’s technological fight against Islamic State (IS) extremists, part of a growing force of cyberexperts the Pentagon has assembled to defeat the group.

“The ability to participate in some way in a real mission, that is actually something that’s rare, that you can’t find in private sector,” said the 38-year-old Nebraska native who is working at US Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland. “You’re part of a larger team putting your skills to use, not just optimising clicks for a digital ad, but optimising the ability to counter Isis or contribute to the security of our nation.”

Last year, then-defence secretary Ash Carter expressed frustration that the United States was losing the cyberwar against IS militants. He pushed the Cyber Command to be more aggressive. In response, the Pentagon launched an effort to incorporate cyber technology into its daily military fight, including new ways to disrupt the enemy’s communications, recruiting, fundraising and propaganda.

To speak with someone at the front lines of the cyber campaign, the major’s name will be withheld. The military says he could be threatened or targeted by the militants if he is identified publicly. The major and other officials wouldn’t provide precise details on the highly classified work he is doing.

But Lt Gen Paul Nakasone, commander of US Army Cyber Command, said the major is bringing new expertise for identifying enemy networks, pinpointing system administrators or developers, and potentially monitoring how the IS’s online traffic moves.

He “has the ability to bring an analytic focus of what the threat is doing, coupled with a really deep understanding of how networks run’’, Lt Gen Nakasone said, describing such contributions as “really helpful for us”. He outlined a key question for the military: “How do you impact an adversary that’s using cyberspace against us?”

The military services are looking for new ways to bring in more civilians with high-tech skills who can help against the IS, and prepare for the new range of technological threats the nation will face. Lt Gen Nakasone said that means getting Guard and Reserve members with technical expertise in digital forensics, math crypto-analysis and writing computer code. The challenge is how to find them.

“I would like to say it’s this great database that we have, that we’ve been able to plug in and say: ‘Show me the best tool developers and analysts that you have out there,’” Lt Gen Nakasone said. “We don’t have that yet. We are going to have one, though, by June.”

The Army Reserve is starting a pilot programme cataloguing soldiers’ talents. Among 190,000 Army reservists, Lt Gen Nakasone said there might be up to 15,000 with some type of cyber-related skills. But there are legal and privacy hurdles, and any database hinges on reservists voluntarily and accurately providing information on their capabilities.

Normally, Lt Gen Nakasone said a reservist’s record includes background, training, assignments and schools attended. “I would like to know every single person that has been trained as a certified ethical hacker,” he said.

The Army has been steadily building cyber mission teams, as part of a broader Defence Department undertaking. Of the 41 Army teams, just over half come from the Army National Guard and Army Reserve.

The major said he has signed up for a second one-year tour in his cyber job. “I find what I’m doing very satisfying, because I have an opportunity to implement things, to get things done and see them work and see tangible results,” he said. “I’m not making as much as I was on the civilian side. But the satisfaction is that strong, and is that valuable, that it’s worth it.”