Hackers For Hire

Organized hacker groups are nothing new. What *is* new, however, is how methodical they've become -- bypassing the easy targets in favor of systems that have the highest ROI.

"What makes these new groups dangerous is their ability to tap the same or better IT talent than vendors, solution providers or end users can recruit," Websense CEO Gene Hodges told VARBusiness editor Larry Walsh (a security boy at heart).

Hodges suggestion for defense? Develop fringe groups that beat the bad guys at their own game.

On a related note (because I'm about to point to a second story about hacking by another guy named Larry), TippingPoint is feeling the heat for its latest, controversial hacking contest; the winner went home with 10 grand:

"As a rule, security vendors tend not to involve themselves in these types of contests because they fear it will feed the conspiracy theorists' speculation of vendors capitalizing on their own vulnerabilities," says ChannelWeb editor Larry Hooper.

What do you think? At the very least, has reality TV covered any of this yet? The possibilities are huge.

Posted by Gayle Kesten at 04:11 PM, May 15, 2007

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