Air Force Cyber "Aggressor Force"

The Air Force has set up two "squadrons" of cyber-security gurus to help get their own security house in order:

The U.S. Air Force has two rather unique "aggressor squadrons." These do not help pilots deal with foreign aircraft and different tactics, but helps sysadmins (computer network system administrators) deal with foreigners, or Americans, trying to hack into military computers. The 57th Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron is an active duty, while the 177th Information Warfare Aggressor Squadron is a reserve outfit, part of the Kansas Air National Guard. Until 2002, the 177th Squadron flew B-1B bombers. The bomber pilots and their support personnel were replaced with Internet geeks. Both of these squadrons spend much of their time attacking American military networks, to discover vulnerabilities before a real enemy does.

This is a very good thing indeed, and well done. The Air Force has been probably the most progressive of all the Fed.Gov organizations when it comes to computer security. While NSA and NIST both have security programs, NSA is still shrouded in secrecy - it's said that NSA stands for "Never Say Anything" - and NIST is mired in theory. The Air Force is, and has been focused on the practical aspects of security.

At least one successful security startup cam out of the Air Force Warfighting Integration Center in San Antonio (The WheelGroup, bought by Cisco in 1998).

More, please.