AUGUSTA, Ga. – The 780th Military Intelligence Brigade (Cyber) hosted AvengerCon IX, a cyber-con, and the theme was “the intersection of government, industry, and academia in support of advancing cybersecurity,” February 26 and 27 at the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center.

AvengerCon is a free security event hosted by volunteers from the 780th MI BDE to benefit the hackers of the U.S. Cyber Command and Department of Defense. The event is targeted at personnel supporting DoD cyberspace missions, but others are welcome to attend. AvengerCon features presentations, hacker villages, training workshops, and much more (https://avengercon.com/mission).

“In military cyber we get a lot of specific pipeline training,” said Army 1st Lt. Andrew White, AvengerCon IX lead organizer and event volunteer. “What we’re kind of lacking is the hacker culture. It’s a little bit harder to do in the military because hacker culture is kind of homegrown, it’s grassroots, it kind of emerges. People aren’t forced to go to hacker conferences.”

Day one of AvengerCon IX was primarily training workshops, and day two began with remarks by the keynote speaker, Dr. Daniel “Rags” Ragsdale, former Deputy Assistant National Cyber Director. Dr. Ragsdale previously served as a Program Manager in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and prior to joining DARPA, Colonel (retired) Ragsdale served 30 years in the U.S. Army in a wide array of operational, educational, and research and development roles.

“We have adversaries of our great nation who are working tirelessly against our interests. The interests of our nation, the interests of the American people,” said Dr. Ragsdale.

“I was commissioned an infantry officer. I was privileged to deploy three different times, but I would tell you that in my mind… everyone in the business and the work that you’re doing is effectively deployed, continuously, and for that you have my great gratitude,” added Dr. Ragsdale. “You are heroes of the current story and the future story. It’s not just about protecting and preserving you’re also part of that integrated deterrence.”

Dr. Ragsdale talked about the early beginnings of Army Cyber in the lates 90’s, early 2000’s, when his dissertation chair at West Point asked him to develop a course on information security.

“Armed with this information, and a document, that I will encourage all of you at some point to avail yourselves to, written by two PLA colonels, in the mid-90’s (The People’s Liberation Army is the military of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China), it was called “Unlimited Warfare,” and it was their playbook that they have implemented since that time” said Dr. Ragsdale. “And it was the PLA that said ‘we have no wherewithal to impede, head-on in a military sense with the United States,’ the only superpower at that time. The USSR had dissolved years before. The U.S. was the only superpower, and we have demonstrated some of the capabilities in Desert Storm. They knew they couldn’t compete directly with that, but they aspired to be a superpower. So, what did they do? They look out asymmetrically, outside of direct military confrontation… they looked at financial means to do so, legal means to do so, they didn’t use specific terminology, what can we do in cyber, and they have aggressively pursued a strategy of unlimited warfare with us, surely, at least back to that time.

“I had this document, and I kept it in my office, and I used it to, a vernacular say so, this is what our adversaries are saying and doing, and here we are at the world’s premiere intellectual, thinking for our Army here at West Point, what are we doing… And I used that document, and I held it up for years and I said what is our response?”

After talking about various topics, including, amongst other things ChatGPT, Large Language Models, and artificial intelligence, Dr. Ragsdale said the biggest take away from his remarks was to “lean into your role as a leader, both as a formal leader and an informal leader.”

He asked the audience, who is on Mount Rushmore, and when someone mentioned Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, Dr. Ragsdale said, “Boom! Jefferson and Lincoln, easy. Roosevelt, people like, ‘you know, why is he up there?’ Great man, great man, great man… He said a lot of things that moved me with his words, it’s “In the Arena.””

“Read “In the Arena.” I got goosebumps just thinking about it,” said Dr. Ragsdale. “(Roosevelt) said this and this is the challenge for all of you in terms of both get what you can done but also have strategic patience to know you can’t change everything. He said, ‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.’ I want you to write that on your hearts, control what you can control.”

In addition to three-track presentations throughout day two of AvengerCon IX, Chris Thompson, Global Lead of IBM X-Force Red provided the mid-day address; the afternoon panel on Threat Intelligence included Andrew Morris, GreyNoise Intelligence; Michael Grochol, Iron EagleX, and Dr. Sid Stamm, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; and Julius Gamble, Regional Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provided the event’s closing remarks.

In keeping with the AvengerCon IX theme, Gamble said, “True collaboration will best prepare us for the challenges of tomorrow. By working together, we can reduce risk and enhance resilience of our nation’s critical infrastructure.”

The annual cyber-Con has come a long way since AvengerCon started in 2016 as an internal training event hosted by the A Company (Avengers) in the 781st Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland (https://avengercon.com/history).

“Augusta has been an amazing host to Army Cyber.” said Army Capt. Amir Soofi, AvengerCon IX planner and event volunteer. “We could not become who we are without Augusta. It’s proximity to Fort Eisenhower, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, an amazing triangle of tech talent here and the outreach we have to the community that is the future of U.S. Cyber. I can’t imagine us anywhere but Augusta, it’s been an amazing experience.”

AvengerCon is a volunteer effort by members of the federal government, in collaboration with Cyber Fusion Innovation Center (CyberFIC), Army Cyber Institute (ACI) at West Point, and Army Cyber Technology & Innovation Center (ArCTIC).

The Soldier volunteers also wanted to recognize the site host, the Georgia Cyber Innovation & Training Center, whom without their support, AvengerCon would not be possible.

“Everywhere and Always…In the Fight!”

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