Inside the Ring

Hacker training

The Pentagon has ordered all troops and officials involved in protecting computer networks from enemy hackers to undergo training in computer hacking themselves.

A Feb. 25 update to a directive on information security from the office of the assistant defense secretary for networks and information integration requires workers involved in what the Pentagon calls computer-network defense to be certified in understanding as many as 150 hacking techniques.

The new training requirement comes as the Pentagon is moving ahead with creation of a new Cyberwarfare Command at Fort Meade, Md.

The certification will be carried out by specialists at the private International Council of E-Commerce Consultants, known as the EC-Council, which conducts what it calls “ethical hacker” training.

The council’s president, Jay Bavisi, said the updated directive is the first time the Pentagon acknowledged publicly that it conducts hacker training.

The certification will be carried out during intensive, five-day sessions that tests a computer defender’s understanding of the mindset, tools and techniques of enemy hackers, who according to the Pentagon, conduct on a daily basis thousands of attempted computer attacks on defense networks alone.

“To beat a hacker, you must think like one,” Mr. Bavisi said in an interview.

Computer-network defenders are part of a new system of cyberwarriors being developed that must stop hackers, a threat that can range from sophisticated foreign militaries to criminal organizations to teenagers.

Other computer warriors are engaged in offensive computer-network attack operations.

Mr. Bavisi said computer security officials will be certified in understanding known hacker techniques, which have increased from 63 to 150 methods, each one of which can involve hundreds of underground hacking tools.

“Hackers are always inventing new ways to attack, and we teach the good guys how the bad guys do it,” he said.

Mr. Bavisi said America’s traditional military power is facing a “dangerous crossroads” in the digital era. “The space race may be over, but the cyberrace has just begun,” he said. “Cyberwar is a looming threat that could have devastating consequences for the U.S. government, not to mention the nation’s infrastructure and private business.”

Missile threats

The director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency warned recently that the threat from missiles is growing, and the military is responding with a major buildup of missile-defense forces.

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