Sunday, April 15, 2012

Defense Contractors Are Hiring Hackers

Boeing engineers Tin Tam, left, and Jarrad Sims can spend weeks testing the company’s computer systems on a platform they designed called “cyber range in a box.” The pair are college pals from Cal Poly Pomona. (Christina House, For The Times / February 13, 2012)

With So Much At Stake, Companies Turn To Hired Hackers -- L.A. Times

Aerospace industry firms such as Boeing are looking beyond traditional recruiting outlets for savvy techies as they try to fend off more coordinated and complex threats from hackers.

Most weekdays, Jarrad Sims and Tin Tam, a pair of college buddies, ride their bikes to a computer center and try to hack into computer security systems belonging to Boeing Co.

Rather than having them arrested, Boeing is paying them to do it — a situation that the car-loving, video-gaming friends have pronounced "awesome."

For two years, the young engineers have worked side by side in a secluded unit where they design and thoroughly test ironclad security systems for the largest aerospace company in the world. Boeing's systems need to be capable of staving off hackers and keeping safe some of the nation's most prized intellectual property.

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My Comment: I predict that it will only be a question of time before these firms are in places like Russia, China, or India .... looking for hackers to hire.

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