"national mirror·romania" reporter's observation: making hackers "white" romania builds an information security talent base
2024-09-20
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reporter's observation: romania creates information security talent base to make hackers "white"
zhang gaiping
romania, once considered a safe haven for criminal hackers, has now transformed into one of the cradles of global information security talent. with its unique approach to hacker transformation, recruitment and training, romania has become one of the main destinations for cybersecurity outsourcing for many multinational companies, and the local information technology industry has also flourished.
【“hacker city”】
about three hours’ drive northwest of bucharest, the capital of romania, you will arrive at the picturesque town of râmnicu vâlcea at the foot of the southern carpathian mountains. it seems to be a paradise away from the world, but it once had an unsettling nickname - "hacker city". in the 1990s, it was a center of hacker crimes and online fraud.
initially, hackers in râmnicu vâlcea used cheap internet cafes as their base, posting fake ads on ebay and other auction sites to trick targets into making electronic transfers. over time, the scale of hacking activities here became larger and larger. by 2005, râmnicu vâlcea had become notorious around the world and a "paradise" for online fraudsters.
romania's high incidence of computer crime has attracted international attention. in 2000, the fbi set up a branch in bucharest to combat computer crimes launched by hackers from romania against us targets. however, such cyber attacks have not decreased.
according to the u.s. embassy in romania, romanian hackers successfully stole up to $1 billion from u.s. bank accounts in 2012 alone.
many of the romanian hackers targeted by the us law enforcement agencies are well-known in the "jianghu". for example, machel lehaier lazer, code-named "guccifer", was arrested in 2014 for launching cyber attacks on multiple us government officials and their families, including the family of former us president bush and former secretary of state colin powell.
another notable hacker is "tincode," whose real name is razvan manole cerneanu, who at the age of 20 successfully hacked into the computer system of nasa's goddard space flight center and was sentenced to two years in prison for this.
in june 2023, mihaly ionut penescu, a 39-year-old romanian hacker nicknamed "virus", was sentenced to three years in prison in the united states for assisting in the spread of destructive malware.
【hacker culture】
romania's "hacker culture" is actually a "by-product" of the development of its information technology industry. from a positive perspective, it is another story.
romania has always attached great importance to mathematics education. in 1956, romanian mathematician professor tiberius roman proposed to hold the international mathematical olympiad. in 1959, the first international mathematical olympiad was held in romania. the event has been held for 65 times so far.
since 2008, romania has held the romanian mathematics masters every year, which is considered one of the most difficult competitions in the mathematical olympiad for secondary school students. romanian students have also won many awards in the international mathematical olympiad.
romania also has cybersecurity professional skills competitions for high school students, such as the romania cybersecurity challenge and the "unbreakable" competition. these competitions provide participants with the opportunity to interact with cybersecurity experts, and outstanding players have the opportunity to represent romania in international competitions such as the european cybersecurity championship.
romania is ranked high in the global digital hub rankings. the romanian talent pool includes 202,000 ict experts who can provide services to global r&d and bpo companies in areas such as software development, commercial accounting, human resources and customer operations.
more than 80% of romanian technology companies are handling it business for foreign companies. romanian it talents are not only technically sound, but also multilingual, with many people mastering more than two foreign languages, such as english, german, french, italian, etc.
romania currently has more than 440 technology companies, making it one of the largest technology outsourcing destinations in central and eastern europe. multinational companies have set up customer support, software development and business outsourcing centers here, including oracle, sap, ibm, hp, siemens and other well-known companies.
romania's low labor costs, highly skilled talent pool and strategic geographical location provide favorable conditions for the booming technology industry. as of february 2022, the output value of the technology industry accounted for 6% of romania's gdp. according to the romanian software and services employers association, this proportion is expected to reach 10% by 2025.
【hacker transformation】
in the information technology industry, an effective strategy to prevent hacker attacks is to hire them. many of the skills that hackers use to commit cybercrime can also be transformed into means to enhance network security protection and resist potential cyber threats. today, many former hackers in romania have successfully transformed into legitimate cybersecurity experts, providing solid support for the information security industry in their own country or other countries.
for example, information security company byte sentinel and internet security software company bitdefender are actively recruiting high-level hacker talents and effectively utilizing their skills. the aforementioned "tincode" cerneanu, who once hacked into the official websites of the us department of defense, nasa and the british royal navy, has now become an expert in romania's cybersecurity consulting field.
another successful transformation case is gabriel bogdan ionescu. born in clario, a city in southwestern romania, he is a gold medalist in the balkan informatics olympiad. in 2008, he cloned the website of the italian post office and stole funds from multiple bank accounts. after being arrested, he was extradited to italy and sentenced to three years in prison. after being released from prison, he turned to the "white way" and worked for the italian police.
nowadays, many governments and technology companies have set up "bug bounty" programs to pay hackers to find loopholes in computer systems, programs, and networks to help prevent cyber attacks, thus giving rise to the "ethical hacker" industry, whose prospects are generally optimistic. in google's annual bug bounty program, romanian hackers have always been one of the groups that receive the most rewards.
in recent years, romania's information technology industry has grown rapidly and has gradually established a competitive advantage in the field of cybersecurity, thanks in part to the country's preferential tax policies and comprehensive business support for the information technology industry. according to a research report released by the romanian software and services employers association in 2022, the romanian information technology market is valued at 9 billion euros and is expected to reach 12 billion euros in 2025.
with a favorable policy environment and abundant resource reserves, romania has transformed its "hacker culture" into information security technology resource advantages and potential. in may 2023, the european cybersecurity competence center was officially established in bucharest. the center aims to develop and coordinate eu project resources in the field of cybersecurity and enhance the ability of eu countries to resist cyber attacks. this location is also a recognition of romania's information security technology talent reserves and development level. (end) (xinhua news agency special report)
note: the author of this article is a reporter of xinhua news agency in bucharest.
