Pentagon Contractors Openly Post Job Listings For Offensive Hackers 149
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "In the wake of confirmation that the U.S. government was involved in the creation of Stuxnet and likely Flame, a look over job listings on defense contractor sites shows just how explicitly the Pentagon and the firms that service it are recruiting offense-oriented hackers. Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, and Booz Allen have all posted job ads that require skills like 'exploit development,' have titles like 'Windows Attack Developer,' or asks them to 'plan, execute, and assess an Offensive Cyberspace Operation.'"
Re:Offensive (Score:5, Informative)
What is so offensive about repurposing hardware? What is so offensive about writing quick and dirty single-use code? What is so offensive about pen testing your own network?
Son, if you think hackers are offensive, you're on the wrong site, and so is the idiot who modded you "insightful." Not knowing there are white, gray, and black hat hackers shows a complete and utter lack of insight.
Of course (Score:3, Informative)
Leave it to the government to use outside contractors which demand a ridiculously high salary for this, when they could just develop more offensive capabilities with the people they already have. There are hundreds of military people who could perform this task with a little training and education, but the Pentagon, in their infinite wisdom, would rather those people sit on mountain tops playing Guitar Hero.
Even in my short 8 years in the Army, I saw a complete brain dump of technical jobs. The people who replaced me keep getting more incapable, because all the capable ones get out and take contracting jobs. Then the Army can't fulfill their mission, so the contractors hire back the same former military people to fill their previous slots, with 3x the salary and benefits.
Re:Windows Attack Developer - Wanted (Score:4, Informative)
The Stuxnet infected computers were "air gapped" meaning they had no connection to the outside internet. Many probably weren't even part of a network at all. They were infected by USB thumbdrives, and maybe a double agent who deliberately delivered the payload to the target machine.