Computer Hacker degree course

The first university course of its sort is to be launched in the UK by the University of Abertay, Dundee. The course will comprise of lessons teaching students methods to break into the most sophisticated computer networks across the World; and thus how they can protect the networks of their own companies from such attacks.

The premise behind this course is that to catch a thief one must become a thief; obviously this is not to be taken to literally. For this reason all applicants to the government-accredited “ethical hacker” course will be thoroughly vetted by the Home Office and Foreign Office, to ensure that anyone who may be tempted to put their skills to criminal use is weeded out. The students will also be closely monitored to ensure that they stay the correct side of the law.

Last year hacking accounted for £10 billion of damage to British firms, and there is scope for it to be used as part of a terrorist attack. This could be seen as enough evidence that training a small proportion of Britain’s students in the art of computer hacking and thus preventative techniques is a worthwhile pursuit.

Profeesor Lachlan MacKinnon, head of Abertay’s school of computing and creative technologies commented that “The technology exists to allow the things that happened to Will Smith in Enemy of the State to happen to you.” He later added that if a hacker could acquire passwords and personal information even systems run by the military, banks and other high-profile organisations were at high risk of being exploited.

Graduates of this particular course are expected to earn salaries in excess of £50,000 – if they use their new found skills ethically.

Rob Green, Managing Director at computer support company Century Computing commented “There is a real need for people skilled in penetration testing on secure computer networks, and to advise business on how to steps to take to fill any insecurities. We would always advise users to secure their networks in the first instance using an enterprise grade firewall; in fact at Century we make a point of not providing Internet and communication lines to firms who do not have adequate firewalls installed.”

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Century Computing Support Services Ltd are a computer support and network installation company located within the West Midlands; providing clients across the UK with hardware and software support, both remotely and with onsite engineers.
Contact: info@centurycomputing.co.uk for Media enquiries.

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