Luring Young Web Warriors Is a U.S. Priority. It’s Also a Game.

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/technology/united-states-wants-to-attract-hackers-to-public-sector.html

By NICOLE PERLROTH
The New York Times
March 24, 2013

WASHINGTON — In the eighth grade, Arlan Jaska figured out how to write a simple 
script that could switch his keyboard’s Caps Lock key on and off 6,000 times a 
minute. When friends weren’t looking, he slipped his program onto their 
computers. It was all fun and games until the program spread to his middle 
school.

“They called my parents and told my dad I was hacking their computers,” Mr. 
Jaska, 17 years old, recalled. He was grounded and got detention. And he is 
just the type the Department of Homeland Security is looking for.

The secretary of that agency, Janet Napolitano, knows she has a problem that 
will only worsen. Foreign hackers have been attacking her agency’s computer 
systems. They have also been busy trying to siphon the nation’s wealth and 
steal valuable trade secrets. And they have begun probing the nation’s 
infrastructure — the power grid, and water and transportation systems.

So she needs her own hackers — 600, the agency estimates. But potential 
recruits with the right skills have too often been heading for business, and 
those who do choose government work often go to the National Security Agency, 
where they work on offensive digital strategies. At Homeland Security, the 
emphasis is on keeping hackers out, or playing defense.

[...]

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