CTA Continues Course, Delivery Improvement

The DoD Cyber Crime Center (DC3) Cyber Training Academy (CTA) has added four new courses and improved how those courses can be consumed via a new course delivery platform.  

CTA was established in 1998 to design, develop and deliver the highest quality cyber training to DoD personnel whose duties include the protection of DoD Information Systems from illegal, unauthorized, and counterintelligence activities. 

CTA provides relevant, up to date and operationally aligned cyber training to the Defense Criminal Investigative Organizations (DCIO), Military Department Counterintelligence Organizations, Cyber Mission Forces, Cyber Protection Teams, Mission Defense Teams and many other agencies across the greater DoD enterprise.

“CTA is constantly assessing, evaluating and updating courses to ensure they are relevant to mission owners and best prepare students for success,” said Casimer Szyper, director, CTA. “Ensuring relevancy in a dynamic domain, such as cyber, requires rigorous attention to changes, mission requirements and challenges coupled with adaptive cyber training development and delivery processes that recognize and adapt to real world challenges such as those associated with the COVID19 pandemic.” 

CTA has made significant improvements to its Cyber Learning Management Environment (CLME) to better accommodate distance learning requirements while preserving the rigor and effectiveness of ‘in-residence’ training. CLME facilitates distributed learning in various formats such as instructor-led virtual (ILV) and mobile training teams (MTT), as well as online instructor facilitated and online self-paced. 

CLME provides students a comprehensive collection of student resources, training materials and hands-on virtual labs that enable students to train in realistic operational environments. CLME enables students to ‘train as they fight’ via immersive, individualized, and scalable cyber training environments tailored to each exercise and/or assessment and learning outcome.

Through CLME, CTA routinely provides pre-recorded webinars, or CyberCasts, which feature instructor presentations on current cyber topics such as new software demonstrations, cutting-edge techniques, and emerging threats and technologies. The CyberCasts are available to all personnel with CLME accounts at no cost. In 2021, CTA released nine new CyberCasts, all of which are approved by Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) for CEUs on aligned CompTIA certifications.

The Technology Evidence in Domestic Abuse (TEDA) course was the first of the four new courses CTA developed and instituted during the past 15 months. TEDA provides law enforcement personnel the knowledge, skills, and abilities to locate evidence in technological devices while responding to domestic abuse calls. The course covers how the misuse of technology can lead to the escalation of domestic abuse, and how military law enforcement can follow the technological evidence in a case.                                              

Cyber Fundamentals 100 and 200 courses were launched in June 2021. These two separate, but complementary courses, provide foundational cyber knowledge to DoD personnel whose duties include the protection of DoD information systems from unauthorized use and/or criminal and fraudulent activities.

Cyber 101 was developed by CTA in cooperation with DoD CIO and was launched in July 2021. This course, required by DoD Directive 8140 for all personnel in “Cyber Enabling Workroles,” provides fundamental cyber knowledge to DoD employees supporting DoD Cyber Elements but whom may have limited cyber knowledge and skills themselves.

Also, in 2021, due to a high demand for evidence of skills and competencies among job seekers and employees, CTA partnered with the Credly Acclaim platform to offer digital badges for completion of American Council on Education (ACE) recommended courses. Digital badges contain verified metadata describing one’s qualifications and the process required to earn them.  The badges can be used in email signatures or digital resumes, embedded in a website, or on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.  

CTA trains thousands of DoD personnel each year with a curriculum featuring 30 courses in several categories of specialization including cyber intelligence, incident response, and digital forensics. In addition to in-residence learning, students can access courses online, ILV, and through MTTs in a variety of locations throughout the United States and abroad.

“At the heart of cybersecurity is the expertise of the professionals who use their skill sets to rapidly identify and mitigate fast-evolving cyber threats every day,” said Jeffrey Specht, executive director, DC3. “As DoDs premiere cyber training institution, the Academy continues to populate the cybersecurity field with the best of the best, making it a true pillar of the DoD Cyber Strategy.”

CTA is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education (COE), International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), CompTIA, and ACE. Select CTA courses confer college credits to students, and CyberCasts and other learning materials provide students with continuing education units used to maintain DoD Directive 8140.01, “Cyberspace Workforce Management” certification requirements.

Visit CTA online: https://www.dc3.mil/Organizations/Cyber-Training/DC3-Cyber-Training-Academy-CTA/.

To learn more about CTA, and to take advantage of the many cyber training opportunities available, visit https://www.dcita.edu.