Anderson speaks at Malvern-hsc Chamber breakfast event
The Malvern-hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce held its monthly Chamber Breakfast on Thursday morning in the Great Room at Arkansas State University Three Rivers.
The guest speaker for the April meeting was Scott Anderson, executive director of Forge Institute in Little Rock, who came to discuss the Information Technology and Cybersecurity programs offered at the learning institute.
Chamber Chairman Herman Grayer opened the meeting by welcoming the attendees and asking State Rep. Rick Mcclure to lead the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. Grayer then recognized the newest members to the chamber: Cooper Assembly of God Church, located at 1436 Cooper Rd., and Direct Auto Insurance, located at 1910 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Chamber Executive. Director Lance Howell then took the stage to thank everyone who was involved in the recent Chamber Banquet before introducing the guest speaker.
Scott Anderson is a retired U.S. Air Force major who is noted for building the Air Force’s cyber training unit in Arkansas and was instrumental in creating the Forge Institute, which offers advanced cybersecurity training, capabilities, and partnerships between the public and private sectors to make businesses, and the nation, more secure.
Anderson is a Washington native who moved to Arkansas after he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1996. He worked as a communications and navigations specialist for eight years, servicing the radios and tech on Lockheed C-130 military transport planes, before going back to school and transitioning into cyber systems operations in the Arkansas Air National Guard.
Anderson said his cyber operations unit was notified that they would be moving from Camp Robinson in Little Rock to Ft. Smith. Anderson had the chance to meet with the secretary of the Air Force, who happened to be in town during that time. Anderson said he suggested the secure facility the unit would be vacating at Camp Robinson be utilized as a cyber space training center, and the Forge Institute came into conception.
Anderson said Arkansas has deep roots in technology, thanks to several large and successful businesses born in and operating here, but that people do not realize this fact because of the state’s reputation as being slightly backwoods and behind the times. He said after convincing the secretary that the Guard could successfully recruit for a cyber training program here in Arkansas, Anderson got the green light.
“So it was changing that mindset. It was meeting people in the community,” Anderson said. “We went out to schools. We went out to businesses and said, ‘Hey, you got people that can join the Guard and be part of this unit.’ ”
“So I put an awesome team together, under the direction of the secretary of the Air Force,” Anderson said. “She pretty much just sent an email and said, ‘Go Do.’ I was charged with building the Cyber Space Operations Squadron.”
Anderson said he took the yellow diamond patch of the former 223rd Combat Communications Squadron out of Hot Springs and resurrected the symbol for the newly-formed 223rd Cyber Space Operations Squadron.
Anderson said it normally takes between 18 months to two years to get initial operation capability, but his new squadron was up and running within six months and ready to offer classes. Anderson came on as the
Institute’s executive director shortly after retiring from the military.
Anderson then delved into what the Forge Institute does, what they offer, and why it’s so important.
“I’m sure y’all have seen the news. You know what’s going on,” Anderson said. “There’s been a lot of bulletins that are coming out from Homeland Security, the FBI, about we need to secure our cyber space. Because for the first time in our nation’s history, it’s not our military that’s getting attacked from the enemy. It’s the private sector.”
“There are vulnerabilities in our infrastructure in our country, and it’s going to take partnerships. It’s going to take communication between the public and private sector, and that’s what we’re doing at Forge,” Anderson said.
“We do training, and I’m going to dive into that a little bit, but we also do some operational stuff, helping Arkansas, our region, and our nation be more cyber secure,” Anderson said.
Forge Institute features the Forge Academy, which is comprised of several comprehensive courses designed to teach students everything they need to know to work in the cybersecurity field; the Forge Fellowship, a mentoring program that gives qualified individuals specialized networking and training opportunities; and the Emerging Threat Center, a help-desk resource for local businesses and organizations who decide to partner with the Institute.
Anderson said that Forge Institute employs more than 40 staff and instructors and currently has nine board advisors, 10 programs and 23 partners in the private sector, is collaborating on three research projects with universities in the state, and can boast top secret clearances.
“We partnered with some education institutions around the state to provide credit for some of the courses that we’ve offered,” Anderson said, adding that the institute has about 30 skilled instructors they bring in for specialized courses.
“That training we do is from cradle to grave, from IT to advanced operations,” Anderson said of the coursework offered through the Forge Academy program.
“We also have a fundamentals course that we offer,” Anderson said regarding the Institute’s It/cyber Fundamentals course. “It’s a seven-week course that takes someone who has little to no tech background and turns them into an IT specialist.”
“The graduates are career-ready when they finish,” Anderson said.
The Forge Fellowship program mentors qualified individuals and gives them access to professional coaching, networking opportunities, special activities and specialized preparation for employment. Anderson said the current participants are military service members who are currently transitioning to the civilian world and are interning parttime through the Emerging Threat Center.
Anderson said when explaining the function of the Emerging Threat Information Sharing & Analysis Center, “It’s really just a help desk for small businesses, municipalities, organizations that either have something going on or just want to consider what they need to do to become cyber secure,”
When talking about the current cyber threats facing America, Anderson shared what he referred to as “Advanced Persistent Threats” (APTS), which are groups considered to be the main sources of cybersecurity concerns. Some of the listed threats included nation-states such as China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia; cybercriminals; hacktivists; terrorist groups; thrill seekers and insider threats.
“These are the individuals that are attacking systems, and they have different motivations,” Anderson said. “The adversaries are training all the time. They’re always looking at new ways to attack systems. Whether that’s criminal or nation-states, they all have different motivations, but every single one of them is well-funded, well-organized, very capable.”
Anderson pointed out that these groups or individuals only have to find one hole or one vulnerable point in the system to exploit, but cybersecurity professionals must be vigilant in securing every aspect of a system, so it’s a daunting challenge, enhanced by the fact that cyber attacks have gone up 600 percent since the pandemic began.
Anderson next shared some interesting numbers related to the economic development opportunities in the cybersecurity field. According to information Anderson presented, there are approximately 1,400 current open positions in the state in cybersecurity and related areas, and 467,000 open positions across the U.S.
There are expected to be approximately 3,400,000 similar open positions in two to three years, and those jobs have an anticipated salary range between $42,000$130,000.
“It doesn’t matter what business you’re in,” Anderson said. “Every business is a technology company. Every business needs cyber employees.”
Anderson shared with the audience a long list of Arkansas businesses who currently utilize employees trained in cybersecurity, illustrating the great need in the state for individuals trained in all aspects of data analysis, cyber forensics, cybersecurity, coding, compliance, and other cyber skills.
Anderson also presented information about current efforts, laws, and programs in Arkansas. He said the state is becoming a rally point for cybersecurity, thanks in part to Forge Institute’s programs, Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Arkansas Coding & Cybersecurity Initiatives, and new programs in higher education.
Anderson said that associates with Forge Institute helped state officials develop Act 1085 of the 2019 Arkansas Cyber Initiative to improve the state’s overall cybersecurity capability and help Arkansas compete in the new POST-COVID manner of operations.
Act 1085 states, in part: “Unless otherwise provided by law, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission may work with universities, colleges, government agencies, and the private business sector to establish a cyber alliance to be known as the "Arkansas Cyber Initiative" that will support collaborations for the purpose of improving cybersecurity and the economy of the state through: improving cyber infrastructure; increasing the focus on cyber job-creating research activities; and expanding cyber job-creating research activities toward producing more knowledge-based and high-technology cyber jobs in this state.”
Anderson said he assisted state officials in writing the latest state standards for students from the sixth grade level through high school. “They added cybersecurity and data science because data science is a huge piece of, ‘Hey, how do you make the right decisions for businesses?’ “Anderson said.
Anderson said Forge Institute is also responsible for training Arkansas’ elite Cyber Response Team.
“The state created a Cyber Strike team, which are the first responders, they fall under Arkansas Division of Information Systems, they get activated when the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management calls them,” Anderson said. “The people that are on that team, we’re training. We put them through robust training in response, in forensics, on how they can come into a community or in an event and help advise, partner with that local community, just like you would in a natural disaster.”
For more information about Anderson or the Forge Institute, visit the institution’s website at https:// www. forge. institute/ home. For more information about local businesses or the Malvern/hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce, visit https://www.malvernchamber.com/.