Hyderabad institute to train ethical hackers

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_238378,0003.htm

Indo-Asian News service
Hyderabad, April 21, 2003

A school to train "ethical hackers" is to be established in what is 
believed to the first initiative of its kind in South Asia.

The school is being promoted by Hyderabad-based e2 Labs, which designs 
national security infrastructure solutions for governments, corporate 
houses and domestic users.

Making this announcement on Monday, Ankit Fadia, a 17-year-old student 
who has authored a book on ethical hacking, and e2 Labs CEO, Zaki 
Qureshey said the school was aimed at IT professionals, system 
administrators, students, decision makers and those concerned about 
the security of network infrastructure.

The school will explain the techniques used by hackers to assess and 
attack corporate networks. The course curriculum will also cover legal 
issues.

Fadia, who is a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
(FBI), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and several other 
organisations, felt that though India was one of the leading software 
powers, it lagged in computer security.

According to a report by Ernst & Young, India is the most vulnerable 
country for cyber attacks. The country lacks any awareness about 
computer security or professionals and experts who can protect the 
networks and counter hacking.

Fadia pointed out that Pakistani hacking groups were hacking 50 to 60 
Indian websites every year.

The training at the school will be conducted in three modules with the 
fee structure ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 75,000 for weekly or 
monthly courses.

A three-month long diploma course has also been designed.

According to Fadia, the country could no longer afford to ignore this
crucial issue at a time when it was facing threats from a number of
terrorist groups. He said the key security institutes and laboratories 
were increasingly becoming targets of hackers, who are also stealing 
sensitive information.

The security and law enforcing agencies, Fadia believed, were also not 
equipped to deal with such threats. He pointed out that in the 
terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament, the investigating agency 
found an encrypted message.

"This aspect becomes even more important in times of war. The country 
that uses encrypted messages and protects its cyber space will win the 
war," Fadia contended.

Asked if the school will end up producing more hackers, Fadia argued 
that nobody would be able to protect his cyber space without knowing 
the techniques used by hackers to pre-empt or counter attacks.

On a countrywide tour to create awareness about computer security, 
Fadia said the demand for ethical hackers was on the rise worldwide. 
Ethical hackers are becoming a mainstay of the effort to secure 
corporate networks.

He felt that each website should have four to five professionals 
dealing with Internet security.



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