As I am sitting here in my room listening to my beloved 2NE1, I may be totally oblivious to the fact that a hacker is covertly accessing all my files and information. Although this is relatively unlikely, there is no doubt that people out there could have pulled it off with ease.

The United States government just recently launched the U.S. Cyber Challenge. It invites hackers from all over the country to compete in a highly intense competition. The aim of this challenge is to “[identify] young people with exceptional computer skills and [inspire] them to join the country’s woefully understaffed ranks of cybersecurity specialists needed to protect systems used by the military, industry and everyday people” (CNN.com).

The contestants ranged from mere high school students to people in their later years. The concept of the competition was quite simple: hack as many computers as possible, and protect those computers from other hackers. We all know, of course, that hacking is much more complicated than that. At the end of the competition, Chris Benedict, 21 and currently unemployed, was declared the winner. “I thought that I would get demolished,” Benedict said. “I didn’t think I would get anything at all” (CNN.com).

The government hopes to one day be able to use the skills that people like Benedict possess in order to strengthen national security and insure the safety of U.S. citizens. So next time you start cursing the hacker that infected your computer, think twice about it, because they may end up saving your life someday.

Reference: CNN.com