After decades of waging a scorched earth war against hackers, the US government is now complaining about a shortage of hackers it needs to conduct cyberwarfare.

  • Mister44

    …but they’re our black hat hackers.

  • Nadreck

    Don’t go hating on the Gubberment; the private parts of the industry are just as bad, if not worse.  If you manage to get a job in IT security you are regarded as an irritating expense who causes security problems by looking for them.  After all, if you hadn’t poked your nose in and found out that the main administrator password was “password” no one would ever have known and we’d be safe.

    You can go to jail for even dabbling.  If you notice that a client’s unencrypted credit card database has been uploaded to parts unknown and you tell him he’ll call the cops.  They’ll send out a traffic cop who’ll arrest you as someone with the means and opportunity to have done this and the motive of selling the client security services.  Case closed and a promotion for the traffic cop!  Probably to the squad that sits around all day surfing porn sites (strictly to look for kiddie porn, of course).  The client’s good with that as it puts out the story that they were ripped off by a Criminal Mastermind and not some 13-year old kid taking advantage of the client’s drooling incompetence.  Too bad for you though.

  • ZikZak

    As the articles says,  any hacker actually worth a damn learned their trade as part of a unique underground community.  That community hates the government, especially police and spy agencies – and for good reason: those institutions are dedicated to putting them and their friends in jail for doing what they love.
    The government is basically complaining that there’s a critical shortage of traitors and turncoats.

  • howaboutthisdangit

    So a top-heavy bureaucracy run by heavy-handed thugs who oppress all that they don’t understand (which is quite a bit) is looking for naturally curious, independent-minded people willing to jump through hoops to prove that they are really narrow-minded, docile sheep to get a security clearance to get a job.

    How difficult can it be?