Every year, COLSA selects employees from major categories across the company to highlight as part of our commitment to recognizing and rewarding good work. Rewarding efforts that go above and beyond in support of the customer is how COLSA promotes one of the company’s core values.
“People are our most valuable resource.”
Because of the work of dedicated employees like Mark Schulz, COLSA’s focus can remain on offering quality products and services that meet or exceed customer requirements and ensure customer satisfaction.
The Importance of Mark’s Work
Mark Schulz is a co-lead for COLSA’s contract with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Cheyenne Mountain Complex Integrated Threat Warning and Attack Assessment (NCMC ITW/AA) Program Office. In this position, he is responsible for planning, executing, and reporting on cybersecurity testing on 11 National Security Systems and their test beds.
These systems directly support NORAD, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, US Strategic Command, and US Northern Command. He supports Quick Reaction Tests and test events which require in‐depth test planning with sustainment and operations personnel. These tests are simultaneously difficult and critical, as testing must be conducted without affecting operational systems and final reports must accurately reflect residual system risk for senior Air and Space Force accrediting officials.
Recognizing Mark’s Integral Contributions
Mark was nominated for this award for his excellent leadership and technical skills, best exemplified by how he led a ten-person team to conduct a Cybersecurity Risk Assessment on the Consolidated Space Operations Wide Area Network (CSO WAN) – the network that provides communication between NCMC ITW/AA systems and their command centers.
The elements of this network are spread across multiple sites, including several Space Force bases. Mark led the pre-test planning, handled all logistical requirements, and expertly divided tasks amongst his dispersed team of 10 cybersecurity engineers. His team successfully executed two weeks of in-depth hands-on Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) testing plus another week of Department of Defense (DoD) Risk Management Framework (RMF) controls review.
Ultimately, they tested over 60 targets, containing multiple different operating systems and applications, executed over 8,000 STIG compliance checks on target system components and assessed an additional 1,900+ DoD RMF assessment procedures for compliance.
Post test, Mark correlated data from non-compliant STIG findings to RMF controls, incorporated mitigating system information, reviewed applicable threat information, assigned “likelihood” ratings to develop residual risk rating and authored the final report. His report provided senior program office personnel and the Space Operations Command (SpOC) Authorizing Official (General Officer) with a detailed risk analysis that was used to grant an Authority to Operate decision for this critical network.
During this risk assessment, Mark was also instrumental in developing processes for the 48 Cyberspace Test Squadron (48 CTS) to directly import test findings into the online Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Service to provide the program office and SpOC Security Control Assessors a more efficient method for data capture processing and analysis.
A Word from Mark Schulz and His Nominator
“Mark’s work leading this test was critical to our team successfully completing a short notice, time sensitive, jam-packed request for multiple critical tests from an important customer,” said Joe Anderson, Mark’s nominator and COLSA’s VP of North Florida Operations.
Mark Schulz reflected on his field when asked how it felt to be recognized: “My feelings on this award are a bit conflicted and in disbelief. As with many people in the cyber industry, there is an underlying feeling of ‘imposter syndrome.’ I have never received any kind of recognition like this in the corporate world, so this is new to me, but it couldn’t come at a better time as I’ve been pushing myself rather hard lately … it is quite validating the more I reflect on it.”
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