Advanced Course in Engineering Cyber Security Boot Camp 2010

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jacob Ames
  • Air Force Research Laboratory
Twenty-seven Air Force ROTC cadets from universities across the nation will constitute the 2010 Advanced Course in Engineering, or ACE, Cyber Security Boot Camp, a 10-week summer program at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate, Rome, NY, that aims at developing future cyber officers.

Boot camp participants attend lectures on cyber warfare presented by faculty from academia, industry and government. Topics include computer network defense, digital forensics, and wireless security. Students will be assigned real-world problems to solve and write reports detailing solutions. For three days each week, students complete internships under scientists and engineers working on military and industry research within the Information Directorate.

In addition to academics and research, ACE participants engage in leadership development activities. These activities include weekly 8-mile runs, study in the art of warfare, and staff rides to the Gettysburg and Fort Ticonderoga battlefields.

The ACE culminates with the annual "ACE Hackfest" where two teams of cadets compete in a large-scale cyber warfare exercise. This capstone exercise permits the cadets to put into use the tactics and techniques that they learned throughout the summer. As such, the Hackfest permits the application of cyber warfare techniques in the context of a military operation.

Dr. Kamal Jabbour, Senior Scientist for Information Assurance developed ACE in 2003 to address the challenge of President George W. Bush's national strategy to secure cyberspace by developing top students into the next generation of cyber warfare leaders. "In its seven year history, the ACE has graduated 199 students who hold positions of trust across the Air Force, government agencies and industry," said Jabbour "there are ACE graduates serving in every squadron under the AF's cyber command 24th Air Force."

In 2005 the Air Force designated ACE an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps  Professional Development Training program; it remains the only ROTC program to focus exclusively on the warfighting in the Cyberspace domain.