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TECHNOLOGY A23
Saturday 5 March 2016
College hackers compete to shine spotlight on cybersecurity
COLLIN BINKLEY members believe there is
Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Students a shortage of skilled work-
from MIT and Britain’s Uni-
versity of Cambridge will ers. The contest at MIT aims
spend the weekend hack-
ing one another’s comput- to spark interest in the field
ers, with the blessing of their
national leaders. and to promote coopera-
The two schools are com-
peting in a hacking con- tion among academics.
test that U.S. President
Barack Obama and British “It is essential for us to work
Prime Minister David Cam-
eron announced last year together and compare
among other joint cyber-
security projects between notes,” said Frank Stajano,
the two nations. The White
House billed it as a show- leader of the Academic
down between the two
prestigious schools, both Centre of Excellence in
known as heavyweights in
the world of computer sci- Cyber Security Research
ence.
But the colleges opted at the University of Cam-
to make it a friendlier
match. Instead of facing bridge, which is sending 10
off against each other, the
schools assigned their top students to the competi-
hackers to six teams made
up of students from both in- tion. “If you’re not at least
stitutions. Teams will gather
at MIT on Friday and then, as good as the bad guys,
for a frenzied 24 hours, try
to hack into their oppo- then you have no chance
nents’ computers and steal
a trove of files. against them.”
“This isn’t us versus them,”
said Howard Shrobe, a prin- Hacking competitions
cipal researcher at MIT’s
Computer Science and have been gaining popu-
Artificial Intelligence Labo-
ratory, which is hosting the larity in recent years, both
event. “It’s the best of both
schools working together.” as sport and to train stu-
Along with bragging rights,
winners will receive cash dents for jobs in cybersecu-
prizes of more than $20,000.
It’s intended to be the first rity. By carrying out attacks,
in a series of global cyber-
security competitions. students learn to uncover In this Jan. 28, 2016 file photo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter gestures during a news conference
After a summit in Washing- at the Pentagon. The Pentagon is looking for a few good computer hackers. Screened high-tech
ton last year, Obama and weak spots in security sys- specialists will be brought in to try to breach the Defense Department’s public Internet pages in a
Cameron jointly called pilot program aimed at finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
for wider collaboration on tems and, in turn, build
cybersecurity. It was only Associated Press
weeks after the U.S. gov- better defenses. On Friday,
ernment accused North
Korea of hacking comput- students will use computers
ers at Sony Pictures Enter-
tainment Inc. The leaders that have hidden vulner-
also agreed to form a joint
“cyber cell” among their abilities already built-in. are already talking about institutions from around the nized,” Stajano said, “so
national security agencies,
among other measures. “You have to identify them arranging a sequel next world. the good guys have to be
Major breaches like the
Sony hack have under- and patch them before year, perhaps with other “The bad guys are orga- organized as well.”q
scored what experts say
is a shortage of cyberse- other competitors notice
curity professionals. An in-
dustry group reported last them,” said Rahul Sridhar, Amazon confirms local data encryp-
year that 86 percent of its tion gone on Fire tablets
a sophomore competitor
from MIT.
The event is styled after
other so-called “capture
the flag” hacking competi- MAE ANDERSON
AP Technology Writer
tions, including an annual NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon
has confirmed it removed
contest at the Def Con the ability to encrypt lo-
cally stored data on its Fire
hacking conference that tablets, saying that cus-
tomers weren’t using the
draws top professionals. service.
The change comes as Ap-
For the competition Friday, ple squares off against the
FBI over access to an en-
teams are encouraged to crypted iPhone. Apple says
giving the government ac-
use any means necessary cess would make all other
iPhones more vulnerable
to retrieve the files they’re to hacks.
But the encryption that
hunting for. They can stick Amazon has removed is
somewhat different than
to hacking or try to trick op- the security involved in the
Apple case. And Amazon
ponents into divulging key made the change well be-
fore the brouhaha started.
information. It’s meant to Amazon made the switch
when it introduced its new
replicate a real cyberat- Fire OS 5 in September with
new Fire tablets. But it was
tack, with students thrown brought to light this week
as older versions of the tab-
into the middle. Side events lets get operating system
updates.
will let students tackle oth-
er challenges, including a
lock-picking contest. In this Sept. 16, 2015, file photo, Amazon’s Fire tablet is displayed
in San Francisco.
“Part of cybersecurity is
Associated Press
physical security, too,”
Shrobe said. “Plus it’s fun to
learn how to pick a lock.” Encryption helps protect cloud, is still encrypted.
user data by scrambling it “All Fire tablets’ commu-
Both schools provided and only allowing access nication with Amazon’s
with a password. Amazon cloud meet our high stan-
training to their students in removed device encryp- dards for privacy and se-
tion, but communication curity including appropri-
recent weeks to sharpen between Fire devices and ate use of encryption,” said
Amazon’s cloud, as well Amazon spokeswoman
their hacking skills. At the as data stored within the Robin Handaly.q
University of Cambridge,
Stajano is already planning
to add that training to the
broader curriculum.
Meanwhile, organizers
