[Infowarrior] - DOD eyes hacker con for new recruits

[Richard Forno]

This story appeared on Network World at
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/080109-defense-deparment-eyes-hacker-con.html


Defense Deparment eyes hacker con for new recruits

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/080109-defense-deparment-eyes-hacker-con.html

The Air Force recruited 60 at last year's hacker conference; this year  
it's back for more
By Robert McMillan , IDG News Service , 08/01/2009

The U.S. Air Force has found an unlikely source of new recruits: The  
yearly Defcon hacking conference, which runs Thursday through Sunday  
in Las Vegas.

Col. Michael Convertino came to Defcon for the first time last year,  
and after finding about 60 good candidates for both enlisted and  
civilian positions decided to come back again.

"The principal reason that I'm here is to recruit," said Convertino,  
commander of the U.S. Air Force's 318th Information Operations Group,  
speaking Thursday during a panel discussion at Defcon's sister  
conference, Black Hat. "We have many empty jobs, empty slots that we  
can't fill."

Federal agencies have only recently begun embracing the hacker crowd.  
When U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) director of futures exploration  
Jim Christy hosted his first Defcon "Meet the Fed" panel on 1999, he  
was one of two people onstage. At this week's Defcon, there may be  
several thousand federal employees in attendance, he said.

Federal government employees first started coming to Defcon to get  
information and build relationships from the hacker community, Christy  
said during an interview, but now it is becoming more acceptable to  
find new recruits at the show, despite its reputation as a subversive  
hacking conference. "The character of Defcon has changed over the  
years," he said in an interview. "Ninety-five percent of the people  
here are good guys."

And federal agencies have changed too, particularly since the  
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Linton Wells II, the former  
CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), now a research professor  
with the National Defense University in Washington D.C. "The federal  
government has engaged with a lot of people they wouldn't have even  
talked to before 9/11," he said.

Christy expects that a couple of hundred of this year's attendees will  
be recruited by federal agencies, but no one is recruiting more  
aggressively than the Air Force. "The Air Force has always been the  
leader in this area," he said.

Convertino's efforts reflect a government-wide effort to step up cyber- 
security recruiting. On Monday, the DoD co-sponsored an effort to  
recruit 10,000 young computer through a series of cyber-contests,  
known as the U.S. Cyber Challenge

In an interview, Convertino said that by next year many of his  
recruits will have completed the hiring process and will be able to  
attend the conference and encourage others to enlist.

The federal government has long had a hard time attracting and keeping  
top computer security talent, even at the very top.

Although the Obama administration created a new high level cyber  
security advisor position earlier this year, it remains unfilled.  
According to a Forbes Magazine report, the job has already been turned  
down by several qualified candidates.

Cyber-security is becoming a hot-button issue, which means more  
congressional interference, and for people in the field more time  
spent responding to political pressures instead of real security  
threats.

The recruitment process is long and tedious -- obtaining a security  
clearance can take 18 months -- and the pay is generally lower than in  
the private sector.

But the challenges are unique and at Defcon this week the DoD's chief  
security officer made a recruiting pitch to attendees, describing it  
as a place where geeks could develop world-class cyber security  
skills. "I have never seen in my entire career a more concerted  
effort.... to focus on this are area of education, training and  
awareness," CSO Robert Lentz told conference attendees. "Any one of  
you in this room who want to seek positions in the government…. the  
opportunities are there; the resources are there. "

There might be one other reason why a government job could appeal to  
Defcon attendees.

The feds like to talk about developing cyber-security capabilities to  
protect the nation's infrastructure, but they may also be spending  
time at Defcon looking for people who know how to attack systems as  
well, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer with security vendor  
F-Secure. "If you want people who know how to attack, this is the  
place."

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.