Hiring Hackers: Cyberwarfare ‘Soldiers’ Find Work in Tough Times

The NYTimes is telling us about the current expansion of hiring at companies that are contracted by the US government for cyberwarfare activity. Combined with the dearth of traditional IT jobs due to the economy, candidates are finding themselves working for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin instead of IBM and HP. One can only hope that the screening for these candidates is top notch.

At a Raytheon facility south of the Kennedy Space Center, a hub of innovation in an earlier era, rock music blares and empty cans of Mountain Dew pile up as engineers create tools to protect the Pentagon’s computers and crack into the networks of countries that could become adversaries. Prizes like cappuccino machines and stacks of cash spur them on, and a gong heralds each major breakthrough.

From what I have personally observed...most of these of the people I see hired into these positions used to be in the military. And even if they aren't...they are subject to background investigations like the rest of us for their security clearances (which is typically at the TOP SECRET level when it comes to this type of work)