Posted on 07/29/2012 2:52:33 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
(Reuters) - The head of the U.S. government's secretive National Security Agency took the unprecedented step on Friday of asking a convention of unruly hackers to join him in an effort to make the Internet more secure.
In a speech to the 20th annual Def Con gathering in Las Vegas, four-star General Keith Alexander stressed common ground between U.S. officials and hackers, telling them privacy must be preserved and that they could help by developing new tools.
"You're going to have to come in and help us," Alexander told thousands of attendees.
Alexander rarely gives speeches of any kind, let alone to a crowd of hackers, professional defenders, and researchers whose discoveries of software and hardware vulnerabilities are used by both sides.
Conference founder Jeff Moss, known in hacking circles as The Dark Tangent, told the conference that he had invited Alexander partly because he wanted them to learn about one of the world's "spookiest, least known" organizations.
Attendees were respectful and gave modest applause, though several said they were concerned about secret government snooping and the failure of authorities thus far to stop foreign-backed attacks.
"Americans pay taxes so that federal agencies can defend them," said a researcher who asked not to be named. "I see it as a hard sell asking a business entity to spend money for the common good."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Why should our “Spy Chief” care if the Internet is secure?
Unless, taking out the Internet would CRIPPLE this country (similar to an EMP).
Naa, our masters cannot be THAT DUMB, can they?
Naa, our masters cannot be THAT DUMB, can they?
I don’t know about our masters, but I do know General Alexander is smarter than the people up the chain from him and that he is that dumb.
He’s asking help from potential “trojan horses”?! Isn’t this like asking a thief to help you secure your multi-million dollar house?
The Chinese don’t need EMP. They have already compromised the networks that control our power grid. They will strike when it suits them.
wikipedia...
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