Los Angeles, California. In the United States it was just a matter of time before somebody figured out how to make money off the “Russian hackers” of media legend. After months of repeating the term thousands of times a day, a whole new industry is emerging as America goes to war on Russian hackers.
America is in dire need of more “white-hat” hackers. There are plenty of job openings and the positions are well-paid . It’s only the qualified candidates that are missing. In the feral imaginations of ongoing national and international threats to the cybersecurity of individuals, businesses and governments being pushed by the American media.
This is the paranoia pitch of Dr. Jared DeMott, formerly of the NSA and currently an associate professor of cybersecurity at Dakota State University. He’s also the founder of VDA Labs in Michigan, a cybersecurity company. (VDA stands for Vulnerability Discovery and Analysis.) Given all the paranoia about seeing Russians behind every hard drive, DeMott does not have time to use a toilet, he is so busy these days.
In his spare time, DeMott does contract work for Synack, a company started by other ex-NSA types that hires good-guy hackers to act like bad-guy hackers in order to help clients realize and attend to their vulnerabilities.In other words, you find somebody who does not have a problem and scare them silly they have one and profit yourself all the way to the bank.
Mark Kuhr, co-founder of Synack , agrees: He says business is booming. “Everything is hackable,” he tells News Front, so there is an endless need for the services of talented individuals who can help with risk mitigation. His company puts all potential freelance hackers through a five-step extreme vetting process that tests their skills and trustworthiness, and ultimately it accepts only 10 percent of those who apply.
Half of his contract workforce comes from a range of 50 countries overseas. English-speakers from India, Argentina, Northern Europe and elsewhere join in, since there aren’t enough satisfactory applicants here in the States. He blames what he calls the “talent gap,” and says, “I will always take more Americans.”
Though, Kuhr points out, there are advantages to diversity, “Can’t beat a Russian unless you have one on your team.” The jobs start at $40,000 a year, but easily go to $300,000 a year for skilled hackers who can scare American businesses into paying up.