Hacker College

In Budapest, the “School of Hackers”, one of the branches of Kürt Academy - Hungary’s information security leader - trains “friendly pirates”, writes French daily Libération —

Each year, twenty handpicked students are schooled in “ethical hacking”. The Hacker Academy of Budapest is one of the rare establishments in Europe to offer a year-long, 250-hour program. Over two semesters, the “friendly hackers” of the future study how pirates break into information systems of companies and government ministries. They learn all the tricks of cyberattacks and how to use false identities to infiltrate networks. During practical internships, they apply their newfound skills to better protect a company or an institution against cybercrime.

As the paper explains, the school does not admit everyone who wants to enrol: “each candidate must have a clean legal record and undergo a national security test organised by the State.” Founded by brothers Sándor and János Kürti in 1989, the school has received requests to give training abroad, namely in Vietnam and the Gulf States. However, director Dea Frankó Csuba tells Libération such training is impossible, “for reasons of national security”.