What the hack!

Forbidden fruits are the sweetest, you see," says Ankit Fadia, the young and famous name in the field of ethical hacking.

Ethical hacker Ankit Fadia, who recently helped Mumbai police trace some terror emails, believes hacking should be introduced as a subject in colleges to check cyber crime

Forbidden fruits are the sweetest, you see,8221; says Ankit Fadia, the young and famous name in the field of ethical hacking. This 23-year-old lad had written his first book on ethical hacking during his summer vacation when he was only 15 years old; and is also recorded to be the youngest writer in the 110-year-old history of Macmillan publishers.

Fadia was in town to impart training on cyber security to officials of various companies. Sharing his journey in the world of hacking, he says, 8220;I was gifted a PC when I was 12. For a year, video games fascinated me, but that was till I discovered hacking. I enjoyed it because it was an entry to something that was forbidden. That was the starting point. I learnt how to hack on my own via books and the Internet. I wouldn8217;t say it8217;s simple or easy to learn. But I was very keen and that made it easier.8221;

Ethical hacking is where a hacker probes into the systems of his customers with their permission and finds out the loopholes in the security systems and then provides them with the solutions. The ethical hacking is much important given the rising threat to security. 8220;Unfortunately the awareness level is poor in India for computer security,8221; he adds. Now a day, with Internet banking and online shopping, sensitive data, passwords are easily susceptible for hackers who can misuse this information. Ethical hacking can certainly help protect this data.

Giving the basic information about how to protect own data, he answers, 8220;One needs to install a firewall, an anti virus software and update it every week. Installing an anti-spy ware software will make it more secure.8221;

He further adds that hacking should be included in software courses because softwares for hacking and complete information about hacking is available on the Internet. So students should be aware about it to prevent them from misusing it.

When asked about the terror mails that were received during the bomb blasts, he says that when the Navi Mumbai police received these mails they called him. 8220;I helped and worked with them to trace them and find information about them.8221;