News
Help AG Introduces ’Capture the Flag’ Ethical Hacking Challenge as Local Talent Recruitment Platform
July 2017 by Marc Jacob
Recognizing the need to identify and
hire skilled cyber-security experts in the Middle East, Help AG today launched a
new recruitment initiative. The ’Capture the Flag’ style challenge tests
applicants’ ability to identify and solve realistic security vulnerabilities and
rewards real-world technical know-how rather than assessing only educational
qualifications. The security company is also extending this evaluation tool as a
service to its customers upon request to help them identify technically
competent staff for their in-house IT positions.
While cyber security is one of the fast-growing industries, pegged to become a
$101 billion market by 2020, it is plagued by an acute skills shortage. A report
from Frost & Sullivan and (ISC)2 found that the global cybersecurity workforce
will have more than 1.5 million unfilled positions by 2020. A major factor in
this has been the evolution of cyber threats and the inability of traditional
academic means to foster the skill sets now needed to combat sophisticated
attacks.
Help AG’s new recruitment platform invites participants to uncover
vulnerabilities in various applications. These have been specifically designed
by the company to mimic those that are most commonly found and exploited by
hackers in the region. Among the types of attacks simulated are SQL Injection,
cross-site scripting, and software exploitation and the platform also tests
applicants’ ability to conduct vulnerability checks, source code audits and
analysis of network packets. While participants won’t be subjected to a time
limit, their performance will be graded based on the number of vulnerabilities
they discover.
Help AG has posted consistent double-digit growth since its establishment in the
Middle East in 2004. In this time, the company has expanded across the region
with fully staffed offices in three countries across the region.
