Which headline seems interesting to you? Choose one headline only.

Look at the following list of word combinations. They all come from the articles to go with the headlines. Which word combinations do you think go with which headline? Why?

Web browser demand for IT security experts

to penalize violators software vendors

illegal computer attacks tougher punishment

domestic internet police household name

university spokesman vulnerability researcher

light fines undergraduate computing degrees

3) What interesting information do you expect to find in the article? Write two questions:

Examples

What UK’s university is going to provide a graduate with computer hacking knowledge?

What did H.D. Moore do?

Why did internet police call for firmer crackdown on cyber hackers?

Now read the article for the headline you choose.

UK’s first computer hacking degree

The University of Abertay in Dundee (Scotland) has been launched a degree course in computer hacking in response to industry demand for IT security experts. The BS (Hons) undergraduate course in Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures will provide a graduate with the knowledge of how illegal computer attacks can be performed and how they can be stopped. Around 30 places are available on the course.

According to a university spokesman, there are an increasing number of compliance regulations and insurance polices that insist businesses carry out security checks on their networks. The university also stressed it is going to train students very carefully in accordance with Home Office guidelines and that the students are to be monitored closely throughout the course.

The university prospectus said: “In the same way that police detectives need to know how thieves can steal, computer system administrators need to know what hackers can do”. Although many existing undergraduate computing degrees cover elements of this new course, Abertay claims to be the first UK university to offer a dedicated degree course in hacking.

H.D. Moore: a hacker who left a mark on 2006

H.D. Moore has always been a household name and a bit of a rock star in hacker circles. As a vulnerability researcher and exploit writer, he
built the Metasploit Framework into a must-use penetration testing tool.
In 2006, Moore reloaded the open-source attack tool with new tricks to
automate exploitation through scripting, simplify the process of writing
an exploit, and increase the re-use of code between exploits.

Moore's public research also included the MoBB (Month of Browser Bugs) project that exposed security flaws in the world's most widely used Web browsers; a malware search engine that used Google search queries to find live malware samples; the MoKB (Month of Kernel Bugs) initiative
that uncovered serious kernel-level flaws; and the discovery of Wi-Fi
driver bugs that could cause code execution attacks.

Love him or hate him hackers marvel at his skills while software vendors decry his stance on vulnerability disclosure - Moore's work nudged the security discussion to the mainstream media and confirmed that
vulnerability research will remain alive in 2007.

Internet police call for firmer crackdown on cyber hackers

Vietnamese domestic internet police have called for tougher punishment of hackers who attack local networks, as an increasing number of computer viruses and attacks are seriously threatening the security of
Vietnam’s online community. Several IT groups in Vietnam ranked the rise of local viruses and hacking as one of the top 10 information technology problems last years. And yet current law penalizes violators through fines only.

Many commercial websites and government websites were hacked, but many hackers discovered were only given light fines, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Nguyen the Dong, director of network Security Company Athena said that about 25 per cent of Vietnamese websites is vulnerable to hacker attacks.

Vietnam is increasing co-operation with international network security organizations to restrict and control attacks from outside the country. The Ministry of Public Security has asked the Government to amend the law by increasing the penalties, including prison sentences for violators.

Comprehension check:

Which word combinations from exercise 2 did you find in your article?

Did you find the answers to your questions?

Find people who read different stories from you. Tell them about what you read.

It is interesting to know

Amusing chronology.

In the history of mankind the XX century was the era of global changes and contradictions. It was full of both marvelous and dreadful events: the invention of the automobile, two World Wars, golden age of cinema, racial discrimination, business boom, rapidly developing fashion trends, outbreaks of unknown lethal diseases, exploration of the outer space and thousands of ingenious inventions.

It was in the XX century when a computer age ushered in. We got accustomed to using cell phones and computers, surfing the net and chatting with the people from the other parts of the world through Instant Messaging. Nowadays such things as wireless technologies, laptops and PDAs, computer viruses and hacker attacks can hardly surprise us. Let’s look back at the past and see how this all started.

Comprehension: