Scarcity of Ethical Hackers
We are now living in what is called 'the Internet age'. The internet has unimaginably transformed our lives, making everything we want available just a click away. The internet has made life easy for us.It has helped us in cutting down the use of paper, expedite processes which were otherwise very labor and time intensive. Any document we want, any bill we have to pay, anything we want to buy, any thing we want to know, anything we want to see or hear is in most cases available on the net. It is no exaggeration to say that the internet has expedited the transformation of the world into a global village like no other thing known to mankind. The ubiquity of the internet has led to availability and accessibility of everything on the internet. All money transactions can now be carried out on the internet, confidential information of every government (regarding military etc) is also up on the internet, though with the required protection. Fact of the matter is that the internet has become a storehouse of information.
But anything which serves to fulfill so many purposes, comes with its flaws, its loopholes. The loopholes in this case being, unauthorized changes and access to confidential data. Enter hackers. Hacker are people who have extensive and in-depth knowledge of the working of these systems, the loopholes in the server software run by companies, and who possess tools which aid them in exploiting these loopholes and vulnerabilities. Hackers are often classified into white-hat, grey-hat and black-hat hackers.A white hat hacker breaks security for non-malicious reasons, for instance testing their own security system.The term "white hat" in Internet slang refers to an ethical hacker. This classification also includes individuals who perform penetration tests and vulnerability assessments within a contractual agreement. A Black Hat Hacker is a hacker who "violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain. Black Hat Hackers are "the epitome of all that the public fears in a computer criminal". Black Hat Hackers break into secure networks to destroy data or make the network unusable for those who are authorized to use the network. A grey hat hacker is a combination of a Black Hat and a White Hat Hacker. A Grey Hat Hacker may surf the internet and hack into a computer system for the sole purpose of notifying the administrator that their system has been hacked, for example. Then they may offer to repair their system for a small fee.
The recent outburst of news articles regarding the attack on Indian government sites, for e.g the CBI, BSNL, Finance, Health, HRD and Planning Commission ministries by hackers from other countries is wake up call to the government. The fact that an attack by skilled hackers is known only if they want it to be known, tells us that the actual number of attacks on these sites are actually much more in number. Its high time that government organizations ensure the security of their sites. These sites contain confidential information which can used against them, hence their security is of utmost importance.
The complexities involved in maintaining security of the servers which host the information, and in fixing the loopholes that always keep arising, makes it possible only for a few people who have in-depth knowledge in the working of these systems, who are extremely passionate, who keep themselves abreast with the latest developments. Hackers are employed by governments all over the world for maintaining security of their sites and also for carrying out digital reconnaissance essential for preventing terrorist attacks.
These are reasons for the paucity of authentic hackers in India, as well as the world. The Department of Information Technology and the National Informatics Center should hire these hackers, for that they have to pay them good salaries, to ensure that the government sites are secure and hack-proof. As the sites hold extremely sensitive data, the maintaining of security cannot be outsourced to any private company. The hiring of hackers serves another purpose, that of carrying out e-reconnaissance which will be helpful in evading terrorist attacks and other threats to the society. So, they should do so by carrying out a nation-wide test in which they test candidates with elementary knowledge. After selecting the required number of candidates, these hackers should be rigorously trained by established professional hackers from India or from any other country. But for this to happen, the Government should spread awareness and encourage students to take up Information Security as a career option by making it a part of the curriculum of all the engineering institutes of India, and by assuring that competent faculty are chosen for imparting this knowledge, or by putting into place Institutions meant specifically for imparting 'Information Security' with the aid of competent faculty.
But anything which serves to fulfill so many purposes, comes with its flaws, its loopholes. The loopholes in this case being, unauthorized changes and access to confidential data. Enter hackers. Hacker are people who have extensive and in-depth knowledge of the working of these systems, the loopholes in the server software run by companies, and who possess tools which aid them in exploiting these loopholes and vulnerabilities. Hackers are often classified into white-hat, grey-hat and black-hat hackers.A white hat hacker breaks security for non-malicious reasons, for instance testing their own security system.The term "white hat" in Internet slang refers to an ethical hacker. This classification also includes individuals who perform penetration tests and vulnerability assessments within a contractual agreement. A Black Hat Hacker is a hacker who "violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain. Black Hat Hackers are "the epitome of all that the public fears in a computer criminal". Black Hat Hackers break into secure networks to destroy data or make the network unusable for those who are authorized to use the network. A grey hat hacker is a combination of a Black Hat and a White Hat Hacker. A Grey Hat Hacker may surf the internet and hack into a computer system for the sole purpose of notifying the administrator that their system has been hacked, for example. Then they may offer to repair their system for a small fee.
The recent outburst of news articles regarding the attack on Indian government sites, for e.g the CBI, BSNL, Finance, Health, HRD and Planning Commission ministries by hackers from other countries is wake up call to the government. The fact that an attack by skilled hackers is known only if they want it to be known, tells us that the actual number of attacks on these sites are actually much more in number. Its high time that government organizations ensure the security of their sites. These sites contain confidential information which can used against them, hence their security is of utmost importance.
The complexities involved in maintaining security of the servers which host the information, and in fixing the loopholes that always keep arising, makes it possible only for a few people who have in-depth knowledge in the working of these systems, who are extremely passionate, who keep themselves abreast with the latest developments. Hackers are employed by governments all over the world for maintaining security of their sites and also for carrying out digital reconnaissance essential for preventing terrorist attacks.
These are reasons for the paucity of authentic hackers in India, as well as the world. The Department of Information Technology and the National Informatics Center should hire these hackers, for that they have to pay them good salaries, to ensure that the government sites are secure and hack-proof. As the sites hold extremely sensitive data, the maintaining of security cannot be outsourced to any private company. The hiring of hackers serves another purpose, that of carrying out e-reconnaissance which will be helpful in evading terrorist attacks and other threats to the society. So, they should do so by carrying out a nation-wide test in which they test candidates with elementary knowledge. After selecting the required number of candidates, these hackers should be rigorously trained by established professional hackers from India or from any other country. But for this to happen, the Government should spread awareness and encourage students to take up Information Security as a career option by making it a part of the curriculum of all the engineering institutes of India, and by assuring that competent faculty are chosen for imparting this knowledge, or by putting into place Institutions meant specifically for imparting 'Information Security' with the aid of competent faculty.
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