Exhibit one: the Los Angeles Times article, “Attacks on websites spark demand for cyber-security experts” at
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/05/business/la-fi-hacking-security-20110705 .
Among the more shocking points is that practically everyone has been hacked,
In the last year, 90% of businesses have suffered at least one security breach, and more than half had at least two, according to a separate Ponemon study sponsored by Juniper Networks, a networking security firm.
“What we’re seeing is not a matter of if,” said Johnnie Konstantas, a security expert for Juniper. “It’s when will an organization be hit.”
Take a look. Follow the link. I am not making this up: 90 percent of businesses have been breached.
“And we’re only aware of the ones that have been discovered,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute. “That’s the scary thing.”
Indeed.
Exhibit Two: from Reuters.com, “Government hankers for hackers” at
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/02/us-usa-hackers-idUSTRE7710PY20110802 .
Computer hacker skills are in great demand in the U.S. government to fight the cyber wars that pose a growing national security threat — and they are in short supply.
For that very reason an alphabet soup of federal agencies — DOD, DHS, NASA, NSA — are descending on Las Vegas this week for Defcon, an annual hacker convention where the $150 entrance fee is cash only — no registration, no credit cards, no names taken. Attendance is expected to top 10,000.
As I have been telling my students for quite some time now, you cannot work hard enough to polish those skills now. Run! Do not walk! To a fast Internet connection, and download BackTrack (the “red team” Linux distro) and Orion (a “blue team” distro built on the same foundation). Build machines. Practice on YOUR OWN network(s). And contact me (using the “Contact Me” link in the menu above) if you’re interested in further training or white-hat hacking events.