• Skript kiddies need not apply as Pentagon Cyber Force turns to Hackers for latest recruitment drive
    12 replies, posted
[url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/28/pentagon-cyber-force_n_2567564.html?1359411890&utm_hp_ref=technology]Source (HuffPo)[/url] [quote]To meet its own demand, the Defense Department has begun a massive cyber recruiting effort that some have called this generation's Manhattan Project. Pentagon officials and defense contractors have established cyber camps, competitions, scholarships and internships for high school and college students and created cybersecurity training programs for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, a growing number of colleges now offer programs focused on cybersecurity.[/quote] I suppose if you wanna apply, just hack into defense.gov and post your resume, lol,
haven't they done this for forever? problem is a lot of hackers are distrustful of "the fed" either way I'd agree other countries are ahead in this aspect.
ASU just opened their beautiful new ISTB 4, which has an entire wing dedicated to internet security. It's a neato setup, with these massive 100" screen tvs and databanks and all sorts of crazy shit.
I think before they tried this and the application form (which you had to hack to find) was on Google.
[QUOTE=ThatSprite;39403919]I think before they tried this and the application form (which you had to hack to find) was on Google.[/QUOTE] That was Britain and it was really, really easy to figure out.
Sure being a freelance hacker is fun in all, but wouldnt you want full benefits, 401k, legal protection (secrecy), and a nice paycheck?
[QUOTE=areolop;39405200]Sure being a freelance hacker is fun in all, but wouldnt you want full benefits, 401k, legal protection (secrecy), and a nice paycheck?[/QUOTE] Hey, you can do whatever you want with that money! You can download a car and get it printed! Or actually buy movies! Even soup up your computer!
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;39402577]haven't they done this for forever? problem is a lot of hackers are distrustful of "the fed" either way I'd agree other countries are ahead in this aspect.[/QUOTE] I agree, China for example definitely has the leg up on the U.S. in the cyberwarfare department. Also, realted to the article, there's this post on Reddit about this subject. It makes a rather poignant point: [quote=bigkr88]It's not just horrible education. When it comes to technology, the schools are basically stuck teaching to the lowest common denominators for their students, leaving anything approaching the technical competence the Pentagon and other groups require the result of purely extracurricular activity, for which students get no support and are left facing too high of a barrier to entry to properly pursue that level of technical expertise; this alone probably eliminates more than 90% of potential candidates before they even graduate high school. Then, consider the societal influence; firstly, there is the 'computer nerd' stigma which our culture seems to punish. Even those experts who manage to climb to salaried positions have trouble escaping it, even freaking Bill Gates is still represented as a nerd, when he should be considered on the level of Rockefeller and Ford in terms of his money, power, and influence on technology. Then, even ignoring the nerd stereotyping, our society has demonized 'hacking' in such blunt terminology that even learning about cyber security is lumped in with hacking. Remember the student in Canada last week who got into his schools' secure network? It is that kind of demonizing that drives 'hacking' further underground, with legal pressure exerted by the FBI, CIA, and the Pentagon providing much of the persecution. And now they want to develop their own private hacker army? Are they freaking stupid? If they want to ensure the hacker supply meets the demand, they have to start now. First off, legitimizing hacking. If a freaking 14 year old script kiddie on a freaking Amiga can break in and steal thousands of PSN usernames and passwords, then actually prosecute the companies for failing to protect customer information. Influence companies to begin increasing the demand and drawing more of the population to the cyber security field. Its not about raising standards for cyber security, as I'm pretty sure that's just plain unfeasible; it would be much easier to make the standard 'if your system is penetrated and information is stolen, it is your fault and you need to prevent it from happening again.' Once cyber security begins gaining more acceptance, the next step is starting to draw kids into cyber security young. Scholarships and computer camps obviously aren't drawing them in; the key steps are to identify the individuals who have the talent, and seeking them out for training. Encourage the development of student groups and provide them with the resources to set up the dummy computer systems other posters in this thread have mentioned for them to practice setting up cyber security measures and penetrating them. Turn it into a kind of cyber wargame, where schools's cyber security clubs throughout the country all compete against each other. And don't put them all on a network independent from the rest of the internet; leave it open for other hacking groups to come in, add an element of the unknown to these cyber wargames. This kind of low-risk high-reward organic competitive environment will breed the best hackers. Have the government agencies sponsoring the programs slap their labels on them, and interact with these student groups in a kind of mentor fashion, and instead of the government being 'The Man' trying to bring hackers down, the CIA, the FBI, and the DoD become kind of protectors and providers. Lets face it, these kids are often the targets of bullies; are they going to be the target of bullies nearly as often when there's a freaking agent from the CIA who stops by every week to hang out with the cyber security club and tutor them? As far as killing multiple birds with one stone goes, I can see a whole flock of birds being nailed in this instance. Then, once these kids get out of high school or college, we come across the biggest issue; no hacker dreams of having a 9-5 salaried office job. That may work in China, where they have the social control to start their teaching hackers when they are young and grow up totally loyal to the government, but here in the US, we essentially believe freedom begets strength. So how do you incentivize hackers to come work for generals and politically appointed spy organizations? How do we create a volunteer army of hackers? Well, I would say the first thing to do is take the department of homeland security, gut it, rename it, and rebuild it from the ground up as the cyber security department of the government. Crowd source the name if you have to. The goal is to lower the competition between the government agencies for offensive cyber capabilities, and instead leave them needing only an in-house defensive group to ensure their own networks are secure. The department of cyber security could then act as a kind of government contractor; they work for the government, and given a flat enough hierarchy there can be minimal rules for this group beyond 'don't be dicks,' alongside a limited command structure so it doesn't feel like they have several bosses ordering them around. Then, have them contract themselves out from this department to the various agencies and to private corporations for essentially cyber warfare work. The penetration testing, coding, tracing hacking attacks, counterattacks, and providing a pool of experts that the government can call upon to develop their own cyber warfare policy. Psychologically, a hacker will for the most part never be the kind to wear a uniform and salute a general; put him in a position where the generals come to him for his expertise, let the hacker decide when he works, who he works for, create a kind of 'spoils of war' system when their jobs have them attacking industrial infrastructures which would involve the draining of bank accounts of, say, chinese conglomerates, and the government gives the hacker legitimacy, respect, and freedom; by continuing to allow free agent hackers to exist outside the government sphere of influence, with the basic understanding of 'don't hit anything who can and will hit you back', a competitive market develops between government and free agent hackers not only driving their own skill development but making cyber security an asset more readily available to everyone. Ok.... that turned into a lot longer than I expected.... TL;DR: think outside the goddamn box and start helping to create the next generation of hackers rather than getting this herd of cats under control. [/quote] [B]TL;DR[/B] - Fuck that, go and actually read it for a change.
[quote]a massive cyber recruiting effort that some have called this generation's Manhattan Project[/quote] who?
Then, they shall gather all the best-of-the-best recruits, and put them in a large, dark room with a firing squad.
I guess it makes sense to hire people when they've proven they're better than your existing security staff.
[QUOTE=kwk;39405711]Then, they shall gather all the best-of-the-best recruits, and put them in a large, dark room with a firing squad.[/QUOTE] [I]What if they hack the guns?[/I]
[QUOTE=Bletotum;39405434]who?[/QUOTE] Why, the editors of course
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