University Offers Degree In Computer Hacking

Mike Howes 20 Jun, 2006 at 1:13am ET Article published in Tech

The University of Abertay in Dundee UK, is offering the first 3 year course in computer hacking.

The course will teach students about the intricacies of computer security systems and how to get round them. Applicants will be subjected to a vetting process overseen by the Home Office and Foreign Office to ensure undesirables don’t equip themselves with a cyberterrorism kit.

In a statement, the head of the school of computing, Professor Lachlan MacKinnon said, “We will be monitoring the students very closely because we want them to come out of the other end as ethical hackers.”

Source: The Inquirer

Comments

20 Jun 2006 ~ 4:18am Thrax That's actually really, really cool.
20 Jun 2006 ~ 7:36am airbornflght Okay, that is where I want to go to college.
20 Jun 2006 ~ 9:40am Garg Ethical hackers? Suppose it's all a matter of perspective.
20 Jun 2006 ~ 10:04am jradmin Sounds like what I did in college, just a bit more hardcore. They made us sign papers that we wouldn't use any of what they taught us while we were in school for unethical purposes or we would be kicked out and turned over to the police.

Heh, there was only 6 of us anyway.
20 Jun 2006 ~ 1:17pm airbornflght

jradmin wrote:

Sounds like what I did in college, just a bit more hardcore. They made us sign papers that we wouldn't use any of what they taught us while we were in school for unethical purposes or we would be kicked out and turned over to the police.

Heh, there was only 6 of us anyway.

What was that? Exagerate that, I'm interested
20 Jun 2006 ~ 2:16pm Thrax

Gargoyle wrote:

Ethical hackers? Suppose it's all a matter of perspective.

Governments around the world employ white-hat computer hackers as security consultants and specialists to monitor and launch counter-offencives against foreign governments or the people they harbor. Prior to the introduction of this degree, the people they hired were pretty much the hackers who managed to elude the law long enough to impress someone in a government's HR.
20 Jun 2006 ~ 2:43pm Garg

Thrax wrote:

Prior to the introduction of this degree, the people they hired were pretty much the hackers who managed to elude the law long enough to impress someone in a government's HR.

Sounds like the best vetting system the government has ever employed
20 Jun 2006 ~ 2:46pm jradmin

airbornflght wrote:

What was that? Exagerate that, I'm interested

Network Security Administration, Forsyth Technical Comm College.

Learned everything from executing an SSL redirect attack to inserting Netcat, social engineering, pretty much everything under the sun you can learn for Windows and Linux in 2.5 years.

Unfortunately our professor got a job working for Red Hat in Raleigh 2 semesters after I graduated the class. They still have it, but I have heard the course isn't nearly as good now. There were only 6 of us that made it to grad out of a 23 person class if that tells you anything.
20 Jun 2006 ~ 5:38pm airbornflght That sounds fun, so Im guessing you could bring this site to its knees if you were a evil little sob?

This reminds me of a friend I have down in texas, when he was 12 or so, his dad got him a computer and got him coding. Well, lets say that he is an awesome coder and a better hacker. He had the computers at his highschool doing some funny stuff, nothing destructive, just funny(annoying to the users). Well, they never could catch him, but the teachers all new of his abbilities and told the principle, and the principle suspended him becase: "We know you did it, we just can catch you..etc" He said that he started laughing at the principal and asked him if he was serious. alas the principal was, and he was suspended for one week.
22 Jun 2006 ~ 2:18pm jradmin I know enough to keep our systems here at work pretty damn secure =) I keep Ethereal and Cain & Abel sniffing the network 24/7.
22 Jun 2006 ~ 5:30pm airbornflght I If worked were you did, I would probably be pissed becaues I could play games. lol. But yeh. If I'm ever in charge of a network, that bitch will be more secure than fort knox.