Metro summer camp aims to reform hackers

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,33%257E466315,00.html

By Jennifer Beauprez and Kris Hudson
Denver Post Business Writers 

Sunday, March 17, 2002 - You've heard of basketball camps for kids.
But what about a summer camp for hackers?

White Hat Technologies, a Denver security firm that hires reformed
hackers, wants to host the first-annual Hacker Camp in metro Denver
next year. Thubten Comerford, chief executive of White Hat, said he
wants to teach teenage hackers how to use their talents and brains for
the good guys.

"This would be an opportunity for young people to use their powers for
good, to hack without getting into trouble," Comerford said. The event
could also help White Hat in uncovering vulnerabilities and recruiting
future employees, he said.

Comerford is trying to drum up sponsors for the event and is talking
to three universities about hosting it on one of their campuses. The
company has also devised hacker contests, or "Hack Offs," to qualify
for the two-week camp.  Comerford hasn't determined whether sponsors
would foot the entire bill for all participants.

The online contests devised by White Hat are similar to a virtual game
of capture the flag, traversing through multiple firewalls, servers
and routers, and then finding and decrypting passwords.

"It would be kind of like a video game," Comerford said. "The kids
that show the most promise would then come to the camp."

Comerford admits that the camp could wind up teaching kids an illegal
activity, but said he believes the opportunity will outweigh that
chance. For more information, e-mail hackercamp () whitehattech com.


Jennifer Beauprez writes on technology and the Internet. She may be
reached at jbeauprez () denverpost com. Kris Hudson covers
telecommunications and can be reached at khudson () denverpost com.



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