Pentagon seeking a few good computer hackers

By

Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press

This picture taken 26 December 2011 shows the Pentagon building in Washington, DC. The Pentagon, which is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense (DOD), is the world’s largest office building by floor area, with about 6,500,000 sq ft (600,000 m2), of which 3,700,000 sq ft (340,000 m2) are used as offices. Approximately 23,000 military and civilian employees and about 3,000 non-defense support personnel work in the Pentagon. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STAFF/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is looking for a few good computer hackers.

Screened high-tech specialists will be brought in to try to breach the Defense Department’s public Internet pages in a pilot program aimed at finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Defense officials laid out the broad outlines of the plan Wednesday. They had few details on how it will work, what Pentagon systems would be tested and how the hackers would be compensated.

The program called “Hack the Pentagon” will begin next month. Department officials will first have to work through a number of legal issues involving the authorization of individuals to breach active websites.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said “responsible” hackers will be invited to participate. Officials often say that department systems get probed and attacked millions of times a day.

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Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press