'White-hat' hackers key force in cybersecurity

Government pledges to cultivate more cybertalents

Chinese information security professionals and enthusiasts will soon have more opportunities and channels to access information related to cybersecurity, after the central government highlighted the issue.

A series of high-profile data leaks and thefts in several countries has prompted the government to prioritize improvements in cybersecurity education, and train a new generation of talented students, said Zuo Xiaodong, vice-president of the China Information Security Research Institute.

The State Council has approved information security as a university major, and several colleges and schools have already applied to the Ministry of Education for permission to establish courses, he said.

"The ministry is also conducting research into the subject; studying the kinds of books that will be needed, what kind of courses will be provided and which teachers should be allocated to those courses," he said.

Fang Xiaodun, co-founder of Wooyun, China's biggest online "white-hat" hacker community, said industry professionals have been discussing the issue for a long time, especially the need to cultivate new talent, "because the level of education currently provided in schools lags far behind industry developments".

"White-hat" hackers are individuals who hack corporate or government computer systems to identify security loopholes and prevent cyberattacks.

The information taught in some universities and colleges is inconsistent with the current state of the industry, Fang said.

Fang's view was echoed by Zhai Jiajia, an information-security enthusiast who recently graduated from a university in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. She said her classes dealt in outdated information and failed to address the hot issues in the industry.

"When I began dealing with cybersecurity-related affairs as an intern at Wooyun, I realized that practical security problems are much more complex and serious than what I was taught at college," the 21-year-old said.