Five things you may not know about the CCRI

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stephen G. Eigel
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  (Editor's note: This is the second feature article in a three-part series highlighting the Command Compliance Readiness Inspection within the 18th Communications Squadron and how it is essential to the mission of Kadena Air Base and security of our base networks. This article will focus on things that people may not know about the CCRI.)

With the Command Compliance Readiness Inspection scheduled for April 14-18, the 18th Communications Squadron is working to get Kadena prepared.

The 18th CS is sharing five major things you should know that could affect whether or not the base passes the CCRI.

Leaving your Common Access Card in the computer
"It's as simple as not leaving your CAC in your computer," said 2nd Lt. Jordan Whylie, 18th Communications Squadron officer in charge of resources.

"Being logged on and walking away is the biggest write up that an inspector can find," Abridello said. "Even leaving your CAC in the system with the computer locked will result in a write up (during) the inspection."

Not labeling your removable media devices
"Anything from a removable hard drive, to a CD or DVD all has to be labeled with the classification, contents and a point of contact if possible," Abridello said. "The CCRI inspectors will be looking for that; it's one of the big things we hear from other bases. One way to combat the inspectors from catching it is for everyone to have a clean desk policy."

Storing classified material
"You have to make sure if you have (classified material) on laptop out that it is stored in a General Services Administration approved container if you're not in an approved open storage area," Abridello said. "If there are (network) removable hard drives, they also need to be stored and put away in a GSA approved container before leaving for the day."

Logging off of your system
"This is the biggest one that often gets overlooked," Abridello said. "The main reason for the CCRI is to ensure that the base networks are protected. A big part of that is patching, or when they find a hole in the system they have to fix all the computers connected to the network on base."

"If the computer is not logged off of properly at the end of the day, that computer may not get the fix," he continued. "When the CCRI comes, it will have all of the holes not protecting the network because it never got the fix."

The CCRI is a U.S. wide cyber communications inspection
"If the base were to fail it could result in the entire base being kicked off the networks," said Master Sgt. Anthony Abridello, 18th CS superintendant of wing information assurance. "If that were to happen, it would be very detrimental to our mission because of our location. Also, all of the missions we carry out every day would not be capable."

The CCRI is critical in testing how well the base networks are protected both physically and digitally against attacks. Not passing the CCRI could result in a shutdown of Kadena's base networks, causing damage to the mission.

For more information on the CCRI and cyber awareness call the 18th CS at 634-2666.