US Army activates its first Cyber Protection Brigade

The US Army on September 5 activated a new Cyber Protection Brigade — the first of its kind in the US Army — at Fort Gordon, Georgia. "The brigade’s activation represents a deeper Army investment in its cyberspace capabilities", said Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, commanding general of US Army Cyber Command, in a statement

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The Cyber Protection Brigade is made up of Cyber Protection Teams, manned by a mix of soldiers and civilians. The brigade will have 20 of these teams, each with about 39 personnel. The teams will conduct defensive cyberspace operations in support of joint and Army missions, according to information from Army Cyber Command.All Cyber Protection Teams are trained to a common joint standard, according to the command.The brigade is “aggressively” manning, training and equipping its teams to support the Army and U.S. Cyber Command, Army Cyber Command said. This push is part of an Army-wide effort to fill the ranks of a selective new military occupational specialty, “cyber network defender,” or 25D. There are more than 700 25D positions across the US Army, and the MOS is open to experienced soldiers in the grades of staff sergeant to sergeant major.

Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, commanding general of the U.S. Army Cyber Command, said in a release that activation of the brigade further adds to the development of cyber space capabilities at Fort Gordon and the Cyber Center of Excellence. “The Army is transforming the way it is conducting defensive cyberspace operations,” Cardon said. The US Army National Guard and Reserves are also building cyber protection teams to support the Army and joint force missions.