RE:Mission Ready Solution and SAN ANTONIO , TX, UNITED STATES 03.03.2022 Story by Nadine Wiley De Moura 688th Cyberspace Wing Subscribe3 SAN ANTONIOThe 561st Network Operations Squadron, 688th Cyberspace Wing deployed teams to partner with the 502nd Communications Squadron, 502nd Installation Support Group in order to harden the security of networks used by over 266 Mission Partners Feb. 19, 2022 across Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. To assess the health and security of the network, the 502 CS is preparing to undergo a Command Cyber Readiness Inspection in the spring of 2022. By developing partnerships with the 502 CS we are continuing to sharpen the skills of all members and improve cyber readiness, said 1st Lt. Matthew La Casse, 561 NOS, enterprise security officer in charge. Attacking network health and security, these partnerships significantly influences our ability to respond to adversarial actions. I was proud to watch these teams executing their mission with the brutal efficacy of ready and disciplined Airmen. Over a twelve-day period, the squadrons analyzed the Assured Compliance Assessment Solution architecture, reviewed and improved the 502 CS workstation management and provided on-the-job training to strengthen operator knowledge and proficiency. The most impactful actions users can take to improve network health and security include restarting their workstations on a regular basis in addition to keeping workstations powered on and connected to the appropriate network to receive updates. Users can also focus on verifying the legitimacy of the source of e-mails, links, and attachments. The 502nd Communications Squadron, 502nd Installation Support Group has a mission to ensure that communications are up and running, to support world-class training for the Air Force and information superiority. ACC mission partners supported by the 502 CS include 16th Air Force, a first-of-its-kind Numbered Air Force, and providing mission integration of Information Warfare at operational and tactical level. The 688th Cyberspace Wing, the premier cyberspace warfighting organization dedicated to delivering actionable intelligence alongside the 616th Operations Center, which oversees Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, and cyber operations split into three mission sets: offensive cyber operations, defensive cyber operations and network operations. The 561st Network Operations Squadrons mission is to strengthen networks from avenues of enemy attack. The Airmen of the 561 NOS are the Air Forces premier unit for vulnerability management and use multiple patching and scanning tools, such as the Assured Compliance Assessment Solution, to harden over 700,000 network endpoints across the world. One of the major goals of building a partnership between the 502 CS and 561 NOS is to increase the support to mission partners and establish a foundation of network health and security to build upon. Cyber hygiene is an all-day, every-day proactive effort and the partnership provides an opportunity to refine processes further and then use the inspection to evaluate those changes for continuous process improvement. The partnership between the 561st and the 502d continues to be a model of not only cross organizational but cross MAJCOM support, said Lt Col Christopher Waddell, Commander of the 502 CS. We always value their assistance in keeping our piece of the overall network secure and operating at peak efficiency.