Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2000/09/29/wanted_noncriminal_hackers_for_new/

Wanted: non-criminal hackers for new security start-up

iXSecurity launches in the UK

By Lucy Sherriff

Posted in Legal, 29th September 2000 07:47 GMT

Guardian IT this week launches in the UK an anti hacking unit, iXSecurity, which promises to find any holes in British corporate networks that hackers could sneak in through.

iXSecurity provides penetration tests of internal and external networks. A consultant will carry out the test from a client's site, although the external tests could, obviously, be done from anywhere. The tests typically take two days to complete, following which iXSecurity produces a report, on CD, highlighting any weaknesses or potential trouble spots that could be exploited by a hacker.

The company is vendor-independent, to the extent that it does not recommend companies which could do the work to tighten up the security.

But its says that they will not hire actual hackers, because it cannot afford to lose the trust of Guardian IT's client base. A spokesman for the company said that it would not hire anyone with any criminal past.

And script kiddies need not apply, iXSecurity says that they are too commercially irresponsible. The spokesman commented: "They have a tendency to decide randomly not to show up for work and fly off to India. We just can't operate like that."

If you are a commercially responsible computer whizz aged mid to late twenties, with a mind like a hacker, but have never done anything naughty, iXSecurity would like to speak to you soon.

The company has been running in Sweden for several years, and will continue to be managed from Sweden, although most of the staff here will be British. ®