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Air Force Special Operations Command announced two winners in the Spark Tank competition here Dec. 5, 2017.
The 18th Flight Test Squadron won first place with their idea of creating benign malware to provide cyber security for aircraft. The 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron won second place for their aircraft parts labeling proposal.
Each major command in the Air Force selects two winners who will compete at the Headquarters Air Force level. In addition to the two winners, an alternate choice is submitted as the “Wild Card.” AFSOC’s “Wild Card” was the 720th Operations Support Squadron Special Operations Surgical Team, with the idea to create a service-wide blood preservation program in emergent cases.
Competitors’ ideas were judged based on impact, feasibility, way forward and return on investment for the content.
Capt. Jhon Arango, 18th FLTS Cyber Flight commander, said his desire for a broader cyber strategy inspired the idea of cyber security for aircraft. The basic design is defense against cyber attack by identifying attack vectors across the Air Force fleet and eventually assisting joint aviation partners.
“We have many cyber security tools on our computers, but unfortunately, these tools don’t translate very well to aircraft,” said Arango. “If you do a scan on a computer network, we have the tools to do that, but if you want to do a scan on an aircraft, you need a piece of hardware plus a piece of software in order to do it. One of the things we’re trying to work on deeply is developing these tools in order to do that assessment.”
Members of AFSOC leadership listened to the different competitors’ pitches and made their decisions. Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, commander of AFSOC, acted as the final judge.
“Innovation is part and parcel with who we are as Airmen,” said Webb. “When we talk about innovation, we are certainly talking about cost-effective ways of getting stuff done, but we are also talking about finding a way. It’s fundamental to who we are as Air Commandos. I applaud you all.”
The Spark Tank competition is an initiative of the Secretary of the Air Force designed to encourage Airmen of all ranks and careers to generate innovative ideas for the purpose of saving the Air Force time, money and maintain readiness.
Even though AFSOC’s Spark Tank competition winners have been selected, ideas can still be considered for implementation through the Airmen Powered by Innovation portal.
| Date Taken: | 12.12.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.15.2017 21:10 |
| Story ID: | 258975 |
| Location: | HURLBURT FIELD, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 70 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Sparking innovation; AFSOC Spark Tank competition winners announced, by TSgt Lynette Rolen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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