A British university has unveiled a new course to train people in the art of ethical computer hacking.

Ethical hacking is when experts attempt to break into technology systems so they can learn how to spot weaknesses that could be exploited by criminals.

The University of Glamorgan has teamed up with information security firm 7Safe to add a Postgraduate Certificate (PgC) in Penetration Testing and Information Security to its range of courses.

oooo... because no one is ever going to abuse that information...

Dude you took the words right out of my mouth. The system can be useful and beneficial IF it isn't abused and misused. Lets hope the security, and background checks on students are good!

Yeh this was bound to happen sometime
Although sadly it could be abused pretty badly if some mentally unstable person were to get into a course like this, they may use their knowledge for the worst...

I dont know what could be done about it, things like this are very important and many people companies would employ someone with a degree in this kind of subject, especially security firms
They are always on the look out for people, and since this course is built around actually getting through security systems, they know the people are definitely qualified for the positions.

I agree that background checks on the students would be a good idea, you wouldnt want some nasty hacker getting in to the course and learning about all these ways to break into a computer in a few clicks, especially for MS, it would be Hell for them.

Im kind of half way on this, theres many pros and cons in this situation
Although i honestly think that the pros will beat the cons more, i mean i doubt many people who were to join this course would be intending to 'take over the world' with some super worm that they developed in Uni from a course built round hacking in the first place, i dont see something like that happening, i mean they have the chance of being employed at many popular software companies that develop virus scanners/firewalls and many more, that outweighs sitting in your room hacking away anyday when you could be getting all this money.

So overall, many pros and cons towards this course, hopefully things wont go awkward

-kris-

yeah, and that's what they thought when they allowed those people who eventually crashed into the WTC to take classes on how to fly a plane...

No one should be alarmist about this announcement. All the information needed for anyone to be a hacker can be found at any local bookstore or widely available on the Internet, thus those seeking the knowledge of how to break into computer systems will find it...

Almost every book written on information security will also spell out how security systems can be easily bypassed. Unfortunately for all of us, even when you combine "state of the art" best practice security (firewalls, patching, Antivirus, Antispyware, NIDS, HIPS, etc) it can all be beaten with even simple techniques. i.e. alter the binary of a remote access trojan, embed the trojan in an .xls filetype, spoof an email to the target, attach the file, initiate its connection sequence inside out, and in ten minutes you just beat the best security that us in the industry applied to stop you...

Last, I just wanted to say the penetration testing (ethical hacking) is a normal and well paying job - every university should teach it. The world needs many "pen testers" because every application should be as tested as possible before it gets released.

- Tony

You people obviously don't know much about training in the IT world.

Certified Ethical Hacking has been taught for years as part of a MCSE or MCSA certification program. The only new announcement here is that some college is going to offer a more in-depth class for graduate studies.

can some one tell me how to be come a hacker i want to know
if u can can someone email me at djjohn@lycos.co.uk thanks all