Between $100,000 and $150,000. This is the tempting salary that can easily be earned by a competent young hacker who leaves “the dark side of the force” to help our businesses.
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“We have five. They are “ethical hackers” who will spot vulnerabilities,” explains Jérôme Le Dall, vice president of sales at cyber defense firm Bradley & Rollins, who met yesterday at the International Cybersecurity Forum (FIC) in Montreal.
“These are people who could go on the wrong side of the force but chose not to,” he illustrates.
His company hires them to help customers see how a hacker is thinking and what a potential attack might be targeting.
While stolen personal information or malware can be purchased with just a few clicks on the Dark Web, our businesses no longer have the luxury of being without hackers who know the music.
Jérôme Le Dall, vice president of sales at Bradley & Rollins
“It’s hard to be a pirate. It’s a job. It’s a lot of technical skills,” says Jérôme Le Dall, who previously worked for Cisco and SAS.
According to him, young people of 17 or 18 can be very good. Some, therefore, enter their twenties with a wealth of golden skills. And we have to pull out the checkbook to offer them a six-figure salary.
“Evil Opportunists”
For Florent Montel, 32, who describes himself as “a nice pirate,” those who do the most damage are the “nasty opportunists.”
They are the ones knocking on every door, even attacking hospitals or businesses ill-equipped to counter the threat.
“Where they see light, they will try to get in. They will break everything and take the data hostage and demand ransom,” says the co-founder of Paris-based cybersecurity firm Patrowl, which employs 20 people.
Hospitals, retirement homes, SMEs more at risk… these hackers have no scruples.
“Once you’ve managed to get back in, it’s very satisfying from an intellectual point of view. We say to ourselves that we managed to bypass security,” shared Florent Montel.
This is where “the good pirate” comes in to turn things around.
“We tell companies, ‘We got in there, there and there, and we can help you switch your doors.’ There is a desire to give meaning to what we do,” concludes the Télécom SudParis graduate.
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