VICE presents a day alongside the ethical hackers of the national team that will represent Greece at the European Cyber Security Challenge 2019 competition in Bucharest between October 9-11…
Sitting in front of their computers, they are devoted to their screens, which show incomprehensible indications with which I feel familiar only because of the cinema. They are all boys aged 15-25 and they make up our national cybersecurity team. Otherwise our national team of ethical hackers It is Saturday and they have their established meeting in view of the European Cyber Security Challenge, the official European cybersecurity competition of ENISA. This competition aims to find, attract and highlight new talents in the field of protection and security of information systems and networks and Greece is participating this year for the 4th consecutive year.
Some may not even know that we have a national cybersecurity, but not only do we have one, but it also has a competitive presence in competitions. For example, last year's team managed to stand out in 5th place in the overall ranking, among 17 participants. The team that will represent our country this year in the final in Bucharest between October 9-11 will consist of 10 people aged 15-25, students, professionals and non-professionals, hackers, security researchers, but also simple fans of digital security.
Konstantinos Vavousis, editor of Secnews.gr and member of the organization of the national cybersecurity team, tells VICE that: "Essentially, this competition is Europe's need to find new talents in cybersecurity and to keep them. The most difficult part is to keep them on the ethical side, because it is very easy for a young person right now from his home to make much more money from malicious actions than a salary. And at the same time, the difficult part is to keep these kids in ethical hacking so that they can exploit their capabilities for a good purpose, namely to secure systems and not to attack systems."
I wonder how kids start hacking ."There's no specific way. Everyone usually starts on their own. They talk to a friend, a cousin or on a forum and exchange ideas. From there, it's a matter of work and study. But also of the people you meet so that you can take the right direction. It's like learning the guitar. You can get to a very good point as a self-taught person, but at some point you need a teacher to teach you a methodology."
"Yes, that's what the kids say," Mr. Vavousis answers me. "They're hot, they're sexy about it. Someone might start by breaking something on their home network or by hacking into their sister's PC for fun. The point is to know how to give these talents the right direction. So Europe's goal is to create a very strong workforce, which will be able to take on positions within Europe. Most of the kids on the national team will probably not stay in Greece. There are already kids who have gone through the team, who have left, live abroad and have very high salaries.".
But how does one get into the national team? Konstantinos Vavousis explains: "There is a qualifying competition called EthiHak. The new team is very promising because it is new yeast, we are shaping it now."
Pavlos Kolios is the coach of the national cybersecurity team. He has been involved in this field since he was a child. At first as a hobby and then through his participation in competitions. Now, at 25, he works for a company in the cybersecurity sector as a penetration tester: “I entered the Computer Science department at ASOEE and then I went into it on my own. I may not have gotten my degree yet, but I have found a job. Pavlos explains that “in training sessions we manage the problems that the children have. We try to guide them on what to read, what to look for. Because the whole point of security is that no one will give it to you ready-made. So, what we are trying to create is the mentality in the other person to look for it on their own. In other words, even if a child asks you something, what you will tell them is “google it”. "You'll never tell him 'take chewed food'. Because if he enters a process that always has it ready, the philosophy of curiosity isn't created. And when he's looking for something, he won't enter the process of finding it. And we don't want that," he told VICE.
Michalis is 17 years old, he is in the 3rd year of high school and, as he says, he got the bug when he saw an announcement about the EthiHak competition. "I took part but didn't make it. There I met a kid and he basically put me in the field. Until then, I was involved with computers, but not seriously. More seriously, I've been involved for 1.5 years. Since coming to training last year, I see that everything I learned before in a year, here I learn in a month. There are people who want to help you progress."
So I ask him if he ever said, "I want to be a hacker." "No, I never use that word," he tells me, "my family took it easy that I wanted to do this," he adds. As for his classmates? "I think they're afraid of me. They think I can do whatever I want. But I've explained to them that it's not that simple. They won't call you a hacker because you log into Facebook." Although he's in his final year of high school, he doesn't know which school he wants to attend: "I hope they get me on a scholarship somewhere," he tells VICE.
Giorgos is 18 years old and has just finished the 3rd year of high school. He started training this year and admits that he has learned a lot. "It's a fast-paced postgraduate course," he says characteristically. At the same time, in this year's exams, he passed the School of Informatics in Kastoria: "I started dealing with computers at the age of 9 when they took my first one away from me. I started experimenting and had filled it with 100 viruses. From a certain point on, I started looking into it more. At 13, I started dealing with programming and hacking. I had seen various things on the internet and said why not? So I continued and ended up here after the EthiHak competition." His family, as he says, "since I didn't do anything illegal that could cost me, they took it more than well. In general, as a person, I get bored easily and it was the only thing I've kept for so many years, so that says something. It's what I love to do, and as long as I do well, my family is jumping for joy."
The competition is an initiative of the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), and is actively supported by the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications & Information, through the General Secretariat for Digital Policy. The responsibility for the Greek participation lies with the Department of Digital Systems of the University of Piraeus, headed by Associate Professor, Mr. Christos Xenakis. He is also a member of the organizing committee of the European competition and leader of the Greek team. As he believes:
"Digitally, we have a lot of steps to take as a society. We barely manage to gather 20 people from which to choose the best 10. We will have to integrate all this knowledge into the educational system, so that we can say that we will create a digitally developed new generation, which will be able to cope with the new era. We are quite behind compared to other countries. Many times we feel that our educational system is not relevant to the times. It should evolve. When you have some children who have an affinity for digital technologies and you as a school are not sufficiently digital, the children come out digitally illiterate. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do classical studies. The school should give you classical education, but a modern school should have the ability to cope with the new era," he notes.
Stella Tsitsoula is the only woman among them. She is responsible for communications, sponsorships and an organizational member of the competition. I ask her why there are no girls on the national team. “There were no entries. Some start timidly applying, but after the first training they leave. It’s a cultural issue in Greece. Many girls are afraid of it because it’s male-dominated. Other countries have a lot of girls, though.”
As for how parents view their children's involvement in the subject? Ms. Tsitsoula says: "Not all parents see it well, because it distracts most children from their lessons. They are in front of a computer during the day and most are not good students. But that does not mean that they are not talented. They are talented in their own field. And very important talents, because if they develop it - as is our goal by not letting them become hackers in the "bad sense" - they can use their talent professionally in a field that is in great demand at the moment."
Source; https://www-vice-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.vice.com/amp/gr/article/evjaga/phgame-se-proponhsh-ths-ellhnikhs-e8nikhs-omadas-h8ikwn-xakers
