Slashdot Mirror
Pentagon Seeks a New Generation of Hackers
Hugh Pickens writes "Forbes reports on a new military-funded program aimed at leveraging an untapped resource: the population of geeky high school and college students in the US. The Cyber Challenge will create three new national competitions for high school and college students intended to foster a young generation of cybersecurity researchers. 'The contests will test skills applicable to both government and private industry: attacking and defending digital targets, stealing data, and tracing how others have stolen it. [...] The Department of Defense's Cyber Crime Center will expand its Digital Forensics Challenge, a program it has run since 2006, to include high school and college participants, tasking them with problems like tracing digital intrusions and reconstructing incomplete data sources. In the most controversial move, the SANS Institute, an independent organization, plans to organize the Network Attack Competition, which challenges students to find and exploit vulnerabilities in software, compromise enemy systems and steal data. Talented entrants may be recruited for cyber training camps planned for summer 2010, nonprofit camps run by the military and funded in part by private companies, or internships at agencies including the National Security Agency, the Department of Energy or Carnegie Mellon's Computer Emergency Response Team.'"
Will they accept foreign applicants?? Because restricting this program to US citizens is madness, considering all the hacks done overseas.
Angelina Jolie has a legitimate excuse to stop posturing as an actress and can pursue her true destiny...
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
When they work for you, they're "freedom fighters".
When they work for the other guys, they're "terrorists".
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
... a young generation of cybersecurity researchers ... attacking and defending digital targets, stealing data ...
Isn't it funny that whenever there is talk about security it generally means the opposite?
they seem to have thousands of enthusiastic youngsters who are already hard at work in this very field
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
If you are asking, you don't qualify.
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. This comment may not be copied in any way including, but not limited to caching.
I have been looking for formal academic training in computing security for quite some time. The best I've found is "boot camps" for CISSP and seminar courses taught by a local college on how to use tools like Metasploit, Wireshark and C&A.
I went all the way through a MS CS looking for any opportunity to study computing security and drew nothing but shrugs from my professors when I inquired about seriously studying the subject.
If they really want to produce cybersecurity experts, forget the competitions - you have to make training available. Forget all of the hand waving talk about academics not "having the right mindset". I have found that the kind of people who say such things just don't want to share their knowledge.
DISCLAIMER: This post was not checked for speling and grammar- if you complain- you're a whiner
When you consider that only a lily-white goody twoshoes can pass the lifestyle polygraph it's no wonder they can't find enough people. They figure if you've ever tried to access any system without the Proper Authority, ever, you're a bad risk. So if you've ever held down two buttons at once on a vending machine to see what happens, you need not apply.
That makes about as much sense as refusing to recruit people into the army because they were in a fight, once.
There is no shortage of people with black hat skills. The problem is that the government does not want all but a handful of those few who are willing to work a job where a routine fuckup can be prosecuted as a felony.
Finally, all those years of watching "War Games" might pay off.
"Don't Panic"
I would think the very culture of the DoD would be adversarial towards the very people they are trying to recruit.
What's the hook? What I mean is: why would some high schooler join this program vs the alternatives? -which by the way....are way more fun. Would you really want to hack for some PHB who has TPS Cover Sheets to fill out? I can't imagine a less rewarding situation
This seems like wishful thinking to me. How many "hacker recruiting" programs have we seen/heard about now? I can count 3 or 4 off the top of my head. Methinks they are not having much success finding good hackers.
Quite an ingenious move.
While the initiative may seem to foster and legalize what previously have been considered acts of malevolence, it also helps the government to identify and build a register of possible future trouble makers with skills.
This will get them both a great recruitment program, but it will also give them a a great monitoring tool.
I'm not pro nor con, just saying. Nice Database of profiles. Do you bite?
>If you are asking, you don't qualify.
Exactly. In fact, if you're any damn good, just break into the HR system, insert yourself, and tell the front desk you forgot your badge when you show up for work the tomorrow morning.
This now concludes your interview.
Things like this can be taught by books or professors.
You start off with ground work on information security, networking, and penetration testing. You learn how things are being protected, how known flaws were exploited in the past, and what traces were left behind.
It's the same steps as being a programmer. The great ones love it, understand it, and spend their free time doing it. The average ones just tread where the great ones have gone before.
The very idea that you could create any kind of meaningful "hacking curriculum" is laughable. Books and Professors? Are you really serious with your reply? Are they really the best source of hacking info? No...no they are not. They never have been. Sure, they can teach you the basics and get you in the game but in reality, that's where their capability ends. Last I checked, professors had nothing to do with 2600, Phrack, LoD, Code Red, Sasser, or any other hacking effort in the last 25+ years. Have you ever seen some of the pure genius that has come from true hackers? Some of it makes you step back in awe of how they "figured that out". Go back and read some of the ezines from the late 80's and 90's. They are quite dated by now but they covered topics that NO BOOK or class could ever touch.
I mean, think about it....many hackers know more about the equipment than the people who actually designed and built it. And you think books are going to teach them to hack it? C'mon....
Methinks you are confusing "security professional" with "hacker". Sometimes they overlap, but not always. I know plenty of INFOSEC guys who don't know a damn thing about hacking. If you were to put them into a room with a real hacker, you would quickly see the hacker run circles around the pro. Now, why would that be?
Riddle me this: IF what you say is true, then why aren't we swimming in hackers all around us? Why is the govt having such a hard time finding qualified applicants? Why aren't there more uber hackers "out there"? After all, if I want to be 1337, all I have to do is go to the right classes and have an active interest. So what is stopping millions of wannabe kids from doing just that?