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09 Feb 17. Accenture buys cyber security operation Endgame. Consultancy services group Accenture has announced the acquisition of Endgame Inc. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed. Endgame, a provider of cyber-security services to US federal customers, specialises in provider identification, isolation, and hunting services to tackle cyber attacks. Clients include the US Air Force. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
09 Feb 17. US Army announces service, civilian cyber workforce pilots. The US Army announced a pair of new pilots surrounding its cyber workforce, one for servicemembers and another for civilian employees.
The first, which came directly from the Department of Defense and spreads across all the services, will look at civilian direct commissioning.
“Much like we do with lawyers and doctors and other career fields for the Army, DoD has now asked us to do a pilot program by service that we can conduct looking at skill sets that we could bring on direct commissioning to the cyber career field,” Brig. Gen. Patricia Frost, director of the Army’s cyber directorate at the Pentagon, said during a Feb. 8 media roundtable.
Hot off the press, and official as of Jan. 30, 2017, Frost did not have many details on the pilot but explained it will improve recruitment of skilled cyberspace personnel. Congress is giving the services until 2020, at which time each service secretary will submit a report on their findings as to implementation of the pilot. There are no funding details yet, she added.
The second is a civilian cyberspace-effects career program for Army government civilians. Frost said the civilian track is similar to the intelligence career program, IT career program and the like.
According to Frost, the Army didn’t wait for the other services because of civilian feedback. During town halls, civilians told top brass that even though there is a career field for soldiers in cyberspace — the 17 series — they wondered why they weren’t given the same opportunity.
In regard to operational cyber