第十四篇                     

Think as a Hacker¹ Does

At the brand-new Hacker Academy in Chicago, US, students learn about phishing schemes1, firewall breaches², and advanced tricks for breaking into confidential³ documents and revealing passwords2.

But it's not nearly as illegal as it sounds. The academy doesn't teach people to be   l __, but to "think like hackers⁴" - and hopefully to stay one step ahead of   2 

The students are      3    computer security professionals. They attend a course that teaches them the tools and techniques that hackers could use to get  4     systems they're trying to protect. They   5 a certificate in "ethical⁵ hacking3'' if they graduate.

The academy is one of the growing number of organizations that teach IT4 security experts to think like their enemies and to find holes in their systems __ 6    the hackers do. "If you can think like a hacker, you're able to   7   some of the attacks that are happening," said Aaron Cohen, the academy's founder⁷.

Those attacks can range from indiscriminate viruses to corporate⁸ spying and efforts to gain sensitive data 8 banks, credit card companies, or individuals.

Computer Economics, a US IT research firm, estimates the   9   caused by viruses and other attacks in 2006 to be somewhere around US$14 billion.

"While the massive viruses seem to be __ 10   in number, there are more targeted

attacks," said Mark McManus of Computer Economics.

With ransom⁹ attacks, for instance, hackers will break into a company's network, and threaten to destroy it or give information to a competitor   11  they're not paid.

Given all the threats, many companies are sending IT professionals to courses like those Cohen offers. So the "ethical hacker" certification, offered by the New York-based International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants¹⁰ (the EC-Council), __ 12  about.

The EC-Council says it has trained about 20,000 people in 60 countries over the past three years, with 8,000 of them passing a __ 13   and earning the "ethical hacker" certification.

Cohen's list of interested people includes an FBI5 agent, NASA6 employees, independent consultants, and company IT security directors. Some want the five-day on-site certification course. Others want a quick overview¹¹, like the US$ 695 "midnight hacking⁶" course, given online and late at   14 

Cohen doesn't   15   much about students using their courses for evil purposes."Hackers don't need our help," says Cohen.

词汇：

hacker  n.黑客

phishing n. 网络欺诈

breach  n.突破

confidential adj. 机密的

ethical adj.合乎道德的

indiscriminate adj. 不加区分的

ransom v. & n. 欺诈

注释：

1. learn about phishing schemes 学习网络欺诈

2. breaking into confidential documents and revealing passwords 闯入秘密文件，打开密码

3. ethical hacker合乎道德规范的黑客

4. IT 信息技术

5. FBI 美国联邦调查局

6. NASA 美国国家航空航天局