January 24th – Jan 31st

My internship began with a meeting with Captain Dean Gayle, the Chief SFIO for NAVAL INFORMATION FORCES (NAVIFOR).  I was shown around the BLDG SP-367 on Norfolk Naval Base.  After receiving my desk I was introduced to the team.  I was informed that I would be working with the team creating briefs.  Office skills such as printing and shredding documents would be part of my day-to-day duties. 

In addition to creating briefs and learning about C5ISR, an acronym for Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, my internship included visits to Naval Commands.  During these visits, I was able to observe the SFIO team in action and interact with Information Professional (IP) Officers.

During my first 50 hours of interning, I learned about the Cyber network assessment study. The Cyber network assessment examines one’s security management and other known vulnerabilities in the network. It’s like another concept which is cyber risk assessment. A considerable part of this process is incorporating threat-based approaches to evaluate how resilient cyber security is. Then I learned about assessment management and password protection. Assessment management can be broken down into two main functions. The first isthe practice of identifying over a long period the overall IT asset a ship or command owns. Commander John Morris described his days at the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV), and how this problem could be catastrophic. The second main function we discussed was potential threats to Naval Commands when the loss of asset control occurs.  The team came together to discuss methods of accountability and scanning of networks.