MALAYSIA NEEDS MORE ETHICAL HACKERS

KUALA LUMPUR: The International Council of e-Commerce Consultants (ECCouncil) wants to increase the number of certified ethical hackers in Malaysia, and to boost awareness of such professionals.

"Keeping up with technology and understanding how firewalls or networks function is one thing," said Erik Laykin, EC-Council's honorary chairman. "

But a capable IT security professional should also know how a hacker thinks."

He said government agencies and corporations are always looking for talented IT professionals who understand security technology and hacking.

"When a professional is certified as an ethical hacker, it shows he knows what he's doing and that would definitely give an employer more assurance (of the professional's skills," Laykin said.

He is a former president of the FBI's (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Los Angeles Chapter of Infragard, and specialises in the investigation and analysis of security-related issues in cyberspace, such as digital theft and corporate espionage.

Laykin was speaking at an event to announce the Hacker Halted conference that will take place in the capital from Aug 13 to 16.

The US-based EC-Council is a global IT security certification authority that is known for its Certified Ethical Hacker courses.

According to EC-Council, IT security professionals should have practical experience with hacking but this should not involve illegal acts, of course.

People often misunderstand the meaning of the phrase "ethical hacking," said Sanjay Bavasi, president of the EC-Council. "In this context, it does not refer to the ethics of a person but to the processes and methods used in a hack," he said.

Ethical hacking, he said, involves operating within a certain set of rules and regulations, which includes getting permission from the owner of a network before attempting to hack into it.

This allows the owner to see if there are holes in his network security. "Since the concept is new, ECCouncil is often criticised for promoting 'legalised' hacking, but ethical hacking is necessary in security," Sanjay said.

"If you've just bought an expensive burglar alarm system, wouldn't you want to put it to a real test to see if it is actually effective?"

Playing host To raise awareness of ethical hacking as well as IT security issues and trends, EC-Council is hosting its Hacker Halted conference.

The conference, which is also held in other countries, is expected to attract 500 IT security professionals, captains of industry, government officials, as well as product and services exhibitors.

In addition to security talks, Hacker Halted will include a capture-the-flag (CTF) hacking competition, said Sean Lim, vicepresident of the EC-Council.

The first Hacker Halted conference in Malaysia was held in 2004.


COMMENTARY ABOUT THE ARTICLE

From my point of view, it can be conclude the article that there are a few thing we have to understand about hackers. The first is that popular media labels hackers as people that break into systems and commit computer crime. This is not true a hacker is a person with and interest in learning more about a system (this doesn't have to be a computer) and make it do things it was never intended to do. Most security professionals are hackers. The question that keep asking about is a cracker, a cracker is a person that uses a skill set to do malicious thing like break in to computer, write viruses, and commit crime for financial gain.

The motivation for a cracker is very different from that of a hacker. A hacker would not break into a system to do intentional harm. I am sure that have heard of software updates allot of times it is a hacker that finds a problem with a peace of software and will notify the vendor that there is a problem with their software and that it needs to be fixed. The same scenario with a cracker would be to take advantage of the problem and not notify the vendor and use what he/she has learned for financial gain or just to be malicious. The cracker is more like a criminal and they are motivated by the same things just like the guy who robs a store or someone who paints graffiti on a wall.

Therefore, it should be different between these two concept that always been misunderstood by certain people. The idea of International Commerce of Council shown that the tendency of our goverment to the other country that Malaysia can use the beneficial of the skills and experience that gain from the majority of professional hackers in Malaysia. Futhermore, Malaysia country can prove that we are not live behind as the "leap frog" especially in the advancement of information technology in our country.

Again, it should be stress here the key advantages of the professional hackers in our country shown that some of the talented people be born to use the professional techniques to enter the system in the legal way which are differ from the crackers that entered into the system as the illegal and manipulate the data that get through the wrong channel.

In the other way,some of the organization in Malaysia has provided the certificate for the ethical hackers training as I-World Technology Sdn Bhd. The main objectives of this training to ensure that the group of talented hackers been awarded the recognition as the skills and well trained in that organization. Besides that, the program will immerse the students into an interactive enviroment where they will be shown how to scan, hack and secure there own system. The lab intensive environment gives each student in-depth knowledge practical experience with the current essential security system. The students also will understanding how perimeter defenses work and then be lead into scanning and attacking their own networks which means no real network will harmed.

In conclusion, with the course training provided by the organization the need of more ethical hackers in our country can be fulfill the demand of the goverment in order to improve and create the awareness among the talented to fully utilized their own skill to the proper channel as it will keep going to our country development especially in advancement of technology system. Therefore, if any ideas that want to share with this article, do not hesistate to comment through this post.

That's all from me..thank you..

Syalina