Synack and the US Army Draft A New Generation of Cyber Warriors

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In the words of Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence, "The lights are blinking red." Nation-state adversaries have waged a cyberwar on trust that underpins our faith in American elections, belief in the integrity of federal government network defenses, and the security of knowing our intellectual property will be safe from prying eyes. A multifaceted war needs a multifaceted solution, and Synack is firing on all fronts by launching new partnerships and programs with enthusiastic youth, top students, highly-skilled hackers and forward-thinking government leaders to help accelerate our nation's pathway to success.

"We are designing and investing in specialized initiatives with the US government so that we can equip a new generation of cyber warriors to fight our Cyber War and protect the American way of life. Investing in industry-relevant education and leadership opportunities alongside our government like we have done through ThinkCyber, r00tz, and Secure the Election is vital to the evolution our nation's cyber defenses. If we want to stay ahead of today's adversaries and prepare for our adversaries in the future, we must continue to work together in public-private partnerships to bolster our cybersecurity talent and troops," said Jay Kaplan.

For the second year in a row, The Synack Red Team, the most elite, private crowd of ethical hackers in the world, formalized a program to educate 8-16 year-olds on how to defeat our cyber adversaries with a unit of American soldiers from Army Cyber that guard the DoD networks from nation-state attacks. During the DEF CON conference this summer, Synack Red Team researchers, Synack's Community team, and Army Cyber soldiers held a workstation at r00tz Village to teach kids "red and blue" (or offensive and defensive) concepts through hands-on hacking and monitoring techniques. While kids as young as 8 are unlikely to join Army Cyber's ranks anytime soon, they can begin to learn how United States adversaries think and how to effectively protect themselves online.

"My favorite part of r00tz was finishing the full exploit and talking with the SRT member because he helped me through the whole thing and he was really cool. He explained certain things that weren't clicking, as well as stayed with me while everyone was packing up so that I could finish the exploit," said 16-year-old Ethan who participated in the workstation.

Synack kicked off ThinkCyber, an unprecedented new initiative held in Silicon Valley this summer to develop cyber talent through hands-on workshops and top-tier mentorship. Supported by Morgan Stanley and Domino's, ThinkCyber provided industry-relevant training not available today through formal education and created pathways to future careers on the front lines of America's cyberwar. The program led with mentorship and exchanges between the most talented college students from top technical programs across the nation including MIT, Harvard, and NYU, and some of the world's most talented ethical hackers from the Synack Red Team as well as US Army Cyber Command.

Earlier this year, Synack CEO Jay Kaplan took a strong stance on securing American election systems, committing up to $550k, and leveraging top talent on the Synack Red Team to fight the adversaries at the state/local level and keep control over our voter registration databases. This would not be the first time the US government opts to utilized crowdsourced security. "USCYBERCOM knows that the money we spend to resolve vulnerabilities found from crowdsourced security is being spent on the highest priority issues," Shawn Turskey, Executive Director of USCYBERCOM commented during a Synack-held congressional briefing earlier this year. Already working with a few different states, now, Synack is speaking at Billington CyberSecurity Summit alongside technology leaders from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Transportation about how to keep American values and innovation safe and defeat our adversaries.

At Billington on September 6th, Synack, the federal market leader with a >78% market share of the federal crowdsourced security market, is leading a discussion with our government partners who collectively manage about $10 billion in annual federal cybersecurity funds (including, Vicki Hillebrand, CIO at Department Of Transportation, Dr. John Zangardi, CIO at DHS, and Tom Michelli, Deputy CIO for Cybersecurity at DOD) on developing strategies for defeating American adversaries including public-private partnerships, shaping civilian responses, adapting new models, and addressing the talent gap.

About Synack
Synack, the leader in crowdsourced security testing, provides real security to the modern enterprise. We leverage the world's most trusted ethical hackers and an industry-leading platform to find critical security issues before criminals can exploit them. Companies no longer have to choose between working with the best security talent and a lack of time, resources, or trust. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with regional offices around the world, Synack has protected over 100 global organizations by reducing companies' security risk and increasing their resistance to cyber attack. For more information about Synack, please visit http://www.synack.com.

SOURCE Synack Inc

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