Industry, military emphasize need for 'cyberwarrior' training as attacks increase.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

Government and military leaders have for years warned of increasingly pervasive and nefarious cyber-attacks. The network intrusions, perpetrated by nation states, hacktivists and thieves, are growing rapidly, experts have said.

To quell attacks, a premium has been put on so-called "cyberwarriors"--professionals trained to root out and stop network intrusions at some of the nation's largest institutions and military and government agencies.

At U.S. Cyber Command, based at Ft. Meade, Md., officials said the importance of having a properly trained workforce is essential to stopping attacks.

"There is nothing more vital to our mission of defending our nation's networks than a trained and ready cyberworkforce. Cyber has become an integral part of our interconnected world and our warfighting capabilities," Air Force Maj. Gen. Jim Kef-fer, chief of staff for USCYBERCOM, told National Defense in an email.

Programs that allow trainees to work with computers to fix vulnerabilities or stave off attacks from simulated hackers are immensely useful, he said.

"One of the best tools we use at USCYBERCOM for training is our exercise network, not connected to any operational network or the Internet at large, that has been created purely for exercise purposes," Keifer said. "This tool allows our cyber-professionals to test their skills in a working environment against simulated, realistic attacks without impacting our operational real-world networks."

Trainees receive a minimum of 12 weeks of instruction, he said.

"That's just to get started. To be qualified at the advanced level in a joint operational environment takes a few years, depending on the particular job," Keffer said.

As breaches have increased, a wider variety of institutions are being targeted. Last year, the financial sector took a beating when Iran allegedly targeted banks with numerous distributed denial of service attacks.

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that called for better cybersecurity protections for critical infrastructure. Many experts see public works, such as the electrical grid, as a sitting duck.

At Cyber Command, officials said the threat is changing and volatile.

"In the news, we've seen the trend in malware shift from DDoS, or distributed denial of service [attacks], which is mostly just inconvenient, to destructive in nature, as evidenced by the Saudi Aramco" attack and other high-profile intrusions, Keifer said.

In 2012, Saudi Aramco, the...