Government criticised for plan to hire former hackers

1 Jul 2009

Lord West the UK security minister has been slammed for hinting that former hackers are being recruited by Britain's security forces in order to help protect IT infrastructure.

The new cybersecurity strategy was launced last week and announced that the new Cyber Security Operations Centre that would begin functioning in September.

West said the centre would need the expertise of former "naughty boys", but the government would not employ any "ultra, ultra criminals". He said: "You need youngsters who are deep into this stuff. If they have been slightly naughty boys, very often they really enjoy stopping other naughty boys."

Rob Cotton, chief executive of independent security consultancy firm NCC Group, commented: "You have to wonder whether this is actually some kind of huge joke. Recruiting criminals to defend the country from potential cyber terrorism is ludicrous. Putting these amateurs, who have no formalised knowledge or training, in charge of national security beggars belief."

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