DHS Seeks "Ethical Hackers" To Protect Federal Net Infrastructure

Death Metal sends this excerpt from an AP report: "General Dynamics Information Technology put out an ad last month on behalf of the Homeland Security Department seeking someone who could 'think like the bad guy.' Applicants, it said, must understand hackers' tools and tactics and be able to analyze Internet traffic and identify vulnerabilities in the federal systems. In the Pentagon's budget request submitted last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon will increase the number of cyberexperts it can train each year from 80 to 250 by 2011. With warnings that the US is ill-prepared for a cyberattack, the White House conducted a 60-day study of how the government can better manage and use technology (PDF) to protect everything from the electrical grid and stock markets to tax data, airline flight systems, and nuclear launch codes. ... Nadia Short, vice president at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, said the job posting for ethical hackers fills a critical need for the government."

Comments

From the article :)

[click2005]

How do you prove you're good enough?

There is a secret NSA computer somewhere for potentiial job applicants to leave their C.V. on.

Re:From the article :)

[nurb432]

If you are good enough, they come to you.

Re:From the article :)

[JWSmythe]

    Well....

    If you're good enough, they'll never come to you, because they'll never know you exist.

    If you're not quite good enough, you've talked too much, or left a trail somewhere you shouldn't have.

    Category 2 sucks. Category 1 is the happier place to be.

    I fall more into Category 1. I may talk on here, but I don't say enough to show the difference between someone who's full of hot air, and someone who should have a desk in sub-basement 4. You know, the one down the broken stairs, with no lights, behind the door marked "Beware Of The Leopard". At least I get my tan from the warm glow of a half dozen monitors. Too bad they don't let me leave very often.
   

Re:Ethical "Hackers".. of course

[Anonymous Coward]

If you to nit-pick, a hacker is a bad golf player.

Amazing how the internet twisted the definition.

Re:airline flight systems, and nuclear launch code

[Kugrian]

So Obama can clear a runway and launch a nuke from his Blackberry.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[psicop]

And the DHS will look up and shout "Save our Internets!"

And I'll look down and lol "QQ moar n00b."

Is it really that hard to essentially blacklist entire countries?

Do we really need remote access from .ru, .cn, and .ua? (just to name a few)

FedNet...would you like to know more?

I see a SciFi Channel series in the offing

[serutan]

Or SeeFee or SuFu or whatever it's called now. Haxx0rz -- Elite hacker Jason St. Phibes and his crew of one rotund recluse, one hot babe genius, and one socially awkward but lovable nerd tackle laptop-wielding Muslims who would threaten our homeland's data and stuff.

Ten-Hut!

[ZarathustraDK]

Private The Plague reporting for duty, sir!