NCSC have discontinued CyberFirst. It’s not yet clear whether the MOD sponsored Cadet Forces can continue to deliver it.
ruddy funding cuts… I guess it’ll depend on the QA contract as to whether it continues for MOD Cadet Forces - but I’d wager if the main contract has ended then that one will too.
I know there’s not much money for Defence at present, but must be even less going to Int if NCSC are at strained to the point of scrapping this…
Even more reason why we need to have better Cyber content internally rather than relying on external powers that be…
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I don’t think it is funding, at least not directly.
If you read their statement it’s pretty clear (in civil service speak at least) that it’s about funding and resource allocation changes prior to the next spending review.
May also just be one of those things though now that NCSC is an established organisation and no longer in it’s “start up” phase, with the extra cash that would’ve come with that. It’s the same problem that’ll face DSIT and the other new depts in a few years time.
I read it as;
Dear industry, we made this. Now you take it on. K. Thanks. Byeee
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That is useful. If only seen the announcement on the NCSC site.
I wonder if we or the CFs together can have an input in into its replacement?
With the new change in Government, I suspect they’ll want industry driving it so as to absorb the costs, rather than MoD by proxy.
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And on that point I am entirely in agreement. Industry is the main beneficiary of these schemes so should contribute. If government wants to identify and recruit its own cyber specialists they can do that as a separate initiative.
What format and content would we like to see for our cyber training?
It would be as useful to hear from those who don’t currently deliver cyber (for whatever reason) as those who do!
I know many have stolen the attention of @Cab re BGA gliding and whatever else, but I wonder what his thoughts would be on the state of Cyber within RAFAC?
We certainly aren’t living up to the “air, space and cyber” Astra goal with our current tired and piecemeal cyber syllabus that’s badly in need of a refresh. I think this is meant to be being looked at under reprofiling but afaik nothing seems to have been talked about.
Besides that, we don’t have Cyber SMEs in all wings, even where we do there are no proper cyber.wing or cyber.region email contacts, and now the death of CyberFirst has just compounded everything.
Sir, I admire and acknowledge your progress with ACPS, but this is another area where we could really progress and improve our offer.
From the reprofiling document it was being pushed into 2025.
Agreed the current course isn’t really fit for purpose. The feedback I get from Cadets is also that they’d far rather be taught than have to self study.
Yeah, it just seems really bizarre that as one of our three supposed Astra focus areas, cyber is neglected so much. I get that there is a resource challenge in organising laptops and internet access on some squadrons, but that surely shouldn’t be a blocker to high quality resources or centralised Wing/Region level courses.
I’m full of praise for the current gold camp, but the rest of the syllabus needs to be rewritten from the ground up in my opinion. We have an incredible opportunity to work with TG4 and Defence Digital colleagues here to create something really unique, but I’m not all that optimistic.
Everywhere I see “we are an air, space and cyber focused organisation” on email signatures, but I don’t even know who my Wing Cyber Officer is at the moment…
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As someone who quite enjoys cyber and am looking to go into the field after I finish my degree and a variety of certifications, the cyber syllabus as it currently stands is not up to spec. I’ve heard news of a new in-house syllabus but havent seen comms on this so I’m not sure that’s true.
I think the blue level (i.e. watch this cringey video as a part of blue radio) should be made its own thing and focused on staying safe on the internet (i.e. avoiding phishing and other forms of phishing, what information to not publish online, etc.) and it should be interactive rather than just a video that I can’t even stand to watch. The bronze syllabus was a step in the right direction with some interesting real world examples and some good learning points, but then you get onto silver and it’s almost as if they gave up.
I know cadets that have finished their bronze course and within the same day or weekend also completed their silver. Silver should be something delivered by SMEs at least at wing level, it should match or exceed the level of detail in the CyberFirst equivalent, and it makes absolutely no sense for it to be some external open university course.
Gold (in-house, not CyberFirst) is also pretty good as it stands, it’s (as far as I remember) the 3310 course that phase 2 recruits do. It’s hands on, interactive, with staff from No.1 Radio School and CFAVs who know their stuff.
I feel like a blue course and an entirely revamped silver course should be seriously considered as cyber is a subject being pushed heavily in both the RAF and RAFAC.
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The RAF is doing some really interesting and cutting edge stuff in cyber and space but the problem is it is all highly classified! We need more practical hands on resources to deliver that aren’t powerpoint slides so it would be great to get that expertise from the operational SMEs
Our revamped Cyber Training will get launched next year, I’m guessing at Cosford Airshow.
According to Wg Cdr Cyber, it’ll be based on the MoD Cyber Foundation Pathway.
Edit to add, as below in reply comment, More detail on the new Training can also be found on the SharePoint Cyber Portal
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Is this going to use the immersive labs cyber training enviroment?
If so, that’ll be pretty good to get ‘our own’ courses for cadets on there. It’s amazing the amount of stuff on there that we can already access a CFAV via DLE. And it’s all very well made.
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imo the biggest blocker is having CFAV interested and knowledgable.
this is seen in every other aspect of what we deliver to the Cadets.
if a CFAV is interested in taking cadets on a museum visit, or to an airshow they find a way to make it happen.
if a CFAV is keen to take cadets on a navigation exercise “in the field” (perhaps NNAS) they find a way to make it happen (which may mean getting qualified first)
likewise for shooting, or radio, or first aid, or whatever it might be.
so until people see the RAF as a “cyber” organisation i don’t know how we’ll recruit CFAV who have an interest in Cyber to bring that interest and skills in
so the only option is to do so internally - either by retraining existing CFAVs or be recruiting the Cadets that pass through the RAFAC training.
In my wide circle of CFAV friends, I can’t say I know anyone who is a made keen “cyber” person, and those that are are few and far between…i think it will be a long road until we see Cyber a “typical” element on the Squadron timetables and much more likely to be following in shooting and even more so a radio format of if there is a CFAV keen it will be done very well…else it will be permitted lip service only and best explored via a Wing route
There’s a vast, untapped resource out there: former cadets. There are a lot of ex cadets (from all services) in the cyber industry and the cyber industry is already a big employer of veterans. We just need some way to get the message out there.
Of course the issues with our on boarding and training processes remain. We need proper recognition of prior learning. And our current cyber offer isn’t really going to attract people in as it is rather limited. But if we can get the people in, that can change.
It would need driving from the centre, it’s not something that would work at local level,
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That would be excellent, but would they have the capacity for up to 40k new users?
For a cost, absolutely. Anyone with access to DLE has access already so the number of potential users is already very high. Arguably adding 40k cadets may lead to a much much higher number of concurrent users at any one time!
AFAIK Immersive Labs is very scalable in terms of users. It’s a great service. I think the MOD uses it for basic cyber awareness already, so it would require very little work to get a course aimed at our cadets up and running. Certainly not multiple years worth of work!
I’ve had a play around with what’s on there already, and found it very interesting my self.
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