News - Twist of Meaning

[Melbosa]

So I was driving to work today, and heard on the news that some students remotely hacked a computer at NAIT and gained access to exam questions with answers.  That was all they said.  Sounds like we have a security breach or something, so when I get to a computer I start looking around to see exactly what happened.

And I come across this article in the Edmonton Journal: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=8c6693c8-b3d9-42d1-b5d6-c27f23e69d32

EDMONTON - Several NAIT students hacked into a remote computer this week and learned the answer to a final exam question worth five per cent.

Nobody was expelled or disciplined for the hack attack, which was part of a course that teaches IT students the tricks of breaking into computers.

The idea is that third-year students who complete Network Security 1 will be better equipped to beat malicious hackers at their own game.

"This is the first time NAIT has ever offered a course like this," said instructor John Zabiuk, a former IT manager who developed the four-month course.

Zabiuk admits a few eyebrows were raised, initially, over the legal implications of passing on some of the tools and exploits of "black hat" hackers.

But Zabiuk says with rising security threats from computer fraud, theft of financial information and computer viruses, IT security analysts need to know how the bad guys operate so they can protect their organizations.

It's estimated that up to $6 billion is lost annually in North America due to hacking.

"If you don't show people how it's done, you can't really expect them to be able to defend against it," Zabiuk said.

His course also touches on various ways con artists use the Internet to gain people's trust and manipulate them, such as the common scam of someone pretending to need help getting millions of dollars out of a foreign country.

As Zabiuk spoke, 18 students were madly trying to gain access to a remote computer where their instructor had hidden two files.

One file contained a question students will see in their upcoming final exam; the other contained the correct answer.

Minutes into the class, Morgan McCollum, 22, cracked the Windows XP computer and found the answer that guaranteed him five points on his final exam. "Classes like this really help more people to go into the market," said McCollum, who already has a part-time job with a west-end company that employs about 30 people.

"It's not just theories and books and stuff that could happen," McCollum said of the four-year Bachelor of Applied Information Systems Technology degree.

"We're always on the computer dealing with hands-on stuff (and) real-world situations."

Next semester, a follow-up course by Zabiuk will help NAIT students take what they learned from Network Security 1 and apply it to protecting networks against attack.

By the end of the three-hour lab, all 18 students had found the two files they were looking for, either on their own or with help from classmates.

So turns out, as you can see, was legal hacking done as part of a course.  Now does NAIT have a PR problem with the Media?  Not sure, but at least with the one report I heard, they definitely Twisted the Meaning of the news.

As always, don't believe everything you hear or read!

[Darren Dirt]

Call me mean, but when I saw this photo of 3 students hacking away...

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/edjn/20081212/129684-47508.jpg

...I immediately thought of this guy.

Yeah, I'm a d-bag.

[Mr. Analog]

Contact the CRTC and get the radio station in @%&#. Misinformation is worse than outright lying.