Photo By Levertis Davis III | Airmen of the 33rd Network Warfare Squadron celebrate upon the successful completion...... read more read more
SAN ANTONIO, Texas--- Air Force Information Network Security Operations Center of the 33rd Network Warfare Squadron coordinated with SANS, a cyberspace industry training provider, for a free unit capture the flag holiday hacking challenge Dec. 15-16, 2021 at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
The event catered to unit cyber interests in lieu of the traditional unit fun days. The unit worked together on the challenge utilizing their own laptops, personal hotspots, combined brainpower and diverse experience of everyone in the unit.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin Ellsworth, Department of Training instructor and senior threat hunter for the 33rd Network Warfare Squadron, 26th Cyberspace Operations Group was the coordinator for the event.
“Traditionally other units use mandatory fun days for having fun morale events but as computer people we prefer events relevant to cyber,” said Ellsworth.
“With these types of challenges we get to compete together against other squadrons and cyber professionals in the industry so it builds the morale and espirit de corps.”
Ellsworth noted that capture the flags do not happen very often and a lot of work is put into organizing them.
“We are very passionate about our jobs and it allows us to showcase our skills,” said Ellsworth. “It is one of the biggest ways we can challenge ourselves outside of facing the adversaries.”
The SANS holiday hack fest involves the global cybersecurity community in a festive cyber security challenge and virtual conference of the year. The SANS Holiday Hack Challenge is a free series of high-quality, hands-on cybersecurity challenges where participants learn new skills, help Santa defeat cybersecurity villains and save the whole holiday season from treachery.
“The event tests us on the skillsets inherent to the job itself from basic to more complex skills like wifi-sniffing and security analysis,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Colin Curry a content developer with the 33rd Network Warfare Squadron.
“It allows you to work on problem solving skills and challenges to improve ourselves. I enjoy it because it teaches me m
ore ways to break stuff and put it back together.”
The 33rd Network Warfare Squadron, 26th Cyberspace Operations Group of the 688th Cyberspace Wing is the enterprise defense of the Air Force Information Network and has a mission to protect, detect and respond to threats on the network 24/7, 365 days a year.
The 33rd NWS executes real-time investigation and response to network/computer intrusions, hunts for threats, provides persistent and proactive defense and mission assurance of the Air Force core missions.
“ The SANS capture the flag event offers a lot of really unique challenges to diversify skillsets for us,” said U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Liam Weinfurtner, a Cyberspace Operator of the 33rd Network Warfare Squadron.
“Because there are a lot of different things that maybe we haven’t seen before or things that someone else here may know that someone else doesn’t---we can work together to try to solve those things as a team.”
I think it’s been a good boost of morale for all of us, Weinfurtner added.
“Coming together with this Christmas themed event and trying do something challenging but also a little bit more on the fun side.”
| Date Taken: | 12.16.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.16.2021 18:07 |
| Story ID: | 411384 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO , TX, US |
| Web Views: | 2,026 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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