Hackers seek venture capital

Ten of the world's most talented hackers are teaming up to launch a company dedicated to information security, according to leading Web activist Kent Browne.

The hackers have become deeply frustrated by the lack of action in the security marketplace, Browne told an audience of security professionals at Olympia yesterday. "They're going to raise the bar much further. They'll change the face of security as we know it," he said. The company is currently looking for venture capital funding.

The group approached Browne, who prefers to be known by his pseudonym rloxley, for help in starting the company. Although the group will form a legitimate firm, Browne claimed they will be able to keep a foot in the hacker camp, bridging the gap between the security industry and the underground world of hackers.

Sir Dystic, a member of hacker group the Cult of the Dead Cow (CDC) and author of the infamous Back Orifice program, said the industry's perception of hackers is wrong. "It's all about marketing. The media like to portray the CDC as the bad guys but we're probably helping security businesses quite a bit by raising awareness."

He added that many network administrators now use the Back Orifice program as a tool to keep help an eye on employees and deal with internal company problems. "It's a legitimate remote administration tool. Plus because it's open source it is free and easy to use."

We need hackers. They raise the bar and find the problems," added Browne, who founded condemned.org, a group that actively removes child pornography from the Internet. "People have got to start taking security a lot more seriously."