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Cyber vigilance: Defending the base through 1's, 0's

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Russell Martin
  • 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  One defender doesn't project force and deter would-be aggressors by donning individual body armor and arming up to the teeth with an M-4 carbine rifle, M-2 .50-caliber machine gun, or M-9 pistol... he uses a series of coded 1's and 0's to interlink a network of detection assets that blanket Kandahar Airfield like a fisherman's net, and it's always ready to snare its catch.

Tech Sgt. Joseph Cavallaro, 451st Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron tactical automated security system administrator, and his team inspect, repair and maintain the vast network of integrated base defense sensors that detect and alert forces to irregular activity around KAF.

Security Forces Airmen are known as "defenders" in Air Force parlance due to their tireless patrols and management of entry control points, flightlines, and perimeters of installations and forward operating bases around the world. They defend their fellow Airmen, coalition partners and Air Force assets from those who would compromise their safety and security.

NATO and coalition forces at KAF are charged with the defense of the base, making the Air Force security forces' footprint smaller than their counterparts around the area of responsibility. Instead, defenders here have a more focused and deliberate role. Many of the defenders are assigned to special units like the tactical security element, combat arms training and maintenance cadre, fly away security team, flightline security... and Cavallaro fills the cyber-defender role.

The nearly 14-mile perimeter of Kandahar Airfield offers a myriad of base defenses. From double fence-line topped with concertina wire to miles of various barriers and embankments, Cavallaro's network of sensors and monitors offer 100 percent coverage of KAF, 100 percent of the time.

"When my rotation got here in June, our first priority was to ensure all of our systems and sensors were operating at full capacity," said Cavallaro, deployed from the 811th Security Forces Squadron, Joint Base Andrews, Md. "We quickly found that a good portion of our assets were in disrepair or weren't operating efficiently for different reasons. It took some time, but within a few weeks we had the entire network up and had 100 percent coverage of KAF."

Cavallaro, a traditional security forces Airman, served like many of his fellow Airmen ensuring traditional security forces measures until he attended an electronic security system administrator course in 2005. Since then he has taken it as a personal challenge to learn as much as he can about networking security assets and bringing a clearer site picture of threats and areas where installations can tighten up security.

"When you talk about a subject matter expert, a person that is knowledgeable on something, you're talking about Cavallaro," said Master Sgt. Alfred Toney, 451st Air Expeditionary Wing anti-terrorism office, and Cavallaro's supervisor at Joint Base Andrews. "He's my Airman back home and all I know is when you talk about an expert in his field, you're talking about Cav. No one knows these systems better than he does."

The cyber-defender is not a cyber-savant unto himself however. His two contractor compatriots, Chris Zapata and Daron Blaino, 451st ESFS TASS engineers, are the technical experts that accompany Cavallaro on inspection of the systems.

"We have hundreds of sensors all over the base," said Blaino, a civilian contractor whose been assigned to KAF for more than a year and a half. "We tag-team them every day, riding along the perimeter and other areas to ensure everything is running at full capacity."

Even though the network has been brought up to standards and the blanket of security is dense, Cavallaro and his crew inspect the assets every single day, testing them, checking for any degradation in performance. That way, they are confident that the systems will perform when called upon. With the help of a handheld monitor, the TASS team can monitor the signal strength of all the sensors remotely by just being near them. This allows them the ability to fix issues on the spot and not have to report to the Joint Defense Operations Center in order to monitor the sensors.

"If I'm near a sensor that isn't giving me a clear signal on the hand held monitor I'll go and inspect it. I'll even do some things to trigger the sensor to send out an alarm," said Cavallaro, originally from Haverhill, Mass. "At that point I'll either get a call from the JDOC alerting me to the signal, or I'll see the camera system rotate and focus on me, so I know the TASS operator at the JDOC is watching over me."

With approximately two months left before redeploying back to Joint Base Andrews, Cavallaro is hoping to take the system as it is and build upon it, further increasing the bases detection and response capabilities.

"I'm proud that Chris, Daron and myself have managed to achieve 100 percent coverage," he laughed. "But the goal is always to get better. We're constantly looking for new ways to incorporate the latest technology and systems into our base defense and deterrence. After all, there are thousands of Airmen here and nearly 30,000 coalition forces and contractors; it's our job to ensure they can perform their missions free from worrying about the safety of the base. That's our job. "