“The Internet is a lawless, Wild West world,” says Barry Kaufman, co-founder of Intense School, which has trained workers at the National Security Agency and Defense Department on hacking for 18 months. “It’s never been easier to be a hacker.” A team of hackers furiously peck away at their keyboards, launching a late-night assault on a computer network . While one batters through a creaky Internet address, another filches important documents from the company’s database. But it isn’t what you think. On a balmy night in south Florida, “white hats,” or ethical hackers employed by the government and private enterprise , are learning the tricks of the digital dark side. And they’re hacking a fictitious Web site , not a real company. They’re enrolled in an exhaustive, five-day course on professional hacking at the privately owned Intense School. Their goal: to find holes in their computer networks, test how they respond to attack and protect them from an onslaught of hacking attacks. Paranoia and pressure from upper management has brought a dozen students from across the USA, Latin America and Canada to pony up about $4,000 each to attend. “It’s like detective work,” says the IT director of an accounting firm who, like other course students, requests anonymity. “Know your enemy.” Full Story
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