School Teaches 'Ethical Hacking' to Computer Students

Dom · Jun 28, 2004, 10:14 PM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sporting long sideburns, a bushy goatee and black baseball cap, instructor Ralph Echemendia has a class of 15 buttoned-down corporate, academic and military leaders spellbound. The lesson: hacking.

The students huddled over laptops at a Los Angeles-area college have paid nearly $4,000 to attend "Hacker College," a computer boot camp designed to show how people will try to break into network systems -- and how they will succeed.

"It's an amazing thing how insecure the big corporations are," Echemendia said during a break in the weeklong seminar. "It's just amazing how easy it is."

Hackers are believed to cost global businesses billions of dollars every year, and the costs to defend against them are soaring. One study by Good Harbor Consulting showed that security now accounts for up to 12 percent of corporate technology budgets, up from 3 percent five years ago.

"This is definitely bleeding edge -- so bleeding edge in fact, sometimes, that it's frightening," said Loren Shirk, a student in the class at Mt. Sierra College who owns a small-business computer consulting company.

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Source: Reuters

Jun 28, 2004, 10:14 PM	#1
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	School Teaches 'Ethical Hacking' to Computer Students LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sporting long sideburns, a bushy goatee and black baseball cap, instructor Ralph Echemendia has a class of 15 buttoned-down corporate, academic and military leaders spellbound. The lesson: hacking. The students huddled over laptops at a Los Angeles-area college have paid nearly $4,000 to attend "Hacker College," a computer boot camp designed to show how people will try to break into network systems -- and how they will succeed. "It's an amazing thing how insecure the big corporations are," Echemendia said during a break in the weeklong seminar. "It's just amazing how easy it is." Hackers are believed to cost global businesses billions of dollars every year, and the costs to defend against them are soaring. One study by Good Harbor Consulting showed that security now accounts for up to 12 percent of corporate technology budgets, up from 3 percent five years ago. "This is definitely bleeding edge -- so bleeding edge in fact, sometimes, that it's frightening," said Loren Shirk, a student in the class at Mt. Sierra College who owns a small-business computer consulting company. Read More... _____________________ Source: Reuters