Lt. Col. Steven P. Brummitt, commander of the 86th Communications Squadron, introduced Eric "The Red" Helgeson from World Wide Technology at the chapter's December luncheon. He offered three simple descriptions: red-haired, left-handed and born on Christmas. Helgeson is a consulting systems engineer responsible for engineering information technology solutions for all Defense Department components in Europe. After donning his Green Bay Packers sweater (receiving various amounts of jeers and cheers from those attending), Helgeson went on to introduce and explain a new wave of technology that could greatly improve operations in the future. He opened with an introduction to hyper-converged infrastructure, which aims to create consolidated virtual desktops with better server visibility and connected management tools. He also explained the Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) Program, a National Security Agency program that makes equipment used for encryption and wireless networks more mobile, safer and easier to obtain. Helgeson went on to explain the benefits of SSL interception, which protects organizations against encrypted attacks by creating a proxy between a computer and the Internet. Since 2015, SSL-cloaked traffic has increased drastically, and Helgeson expressed the need for a "man in the middle." He also touched on microsegmentation and the advantages it can give managers in an organization. By breaking down numerous tasks and tools to manageable, minimal segment sizes, microsegmentation provides the ability to see flow patterns and network traffic with an improved security posture, allowing for safer surveillance over a smaller workflow. |
