ZDNet Australia first reported on the course, entitled -Ultimate Hacking: Hands On", in August this year, when it was described as an -intensive four-day immersion into the way the hacker community works". The course ran in Sydney last week, and Melbourne this week, to a full house.
Hoping to run the course twice a year from 2002, eSec security consulting general manager, Keith Glennan told ZDNet Australia: -I think next time around the course will certainly be larger and we'll probably spread it across three [Australian] cities."
With course availability extended to Brisbane next year, the local e-commerce security enterprise is also looking to deliver the course throughout Asia -- out of Singapore and Hong Kong, according to Glennan.
-There appears to be a lot of demand for training," Glennan said. -It seems to be a bit of a hot topic at the moment."
Glennan says the course has had participants from Malaysia, and attracted a lot of enquiries from Asia and hopeful students from the Middle East who -due to the current political climate" chose not to attend.
With some government representatives and sensitive corporate clients wary of exposing organisational vulnerabilities in such an open environment, the course has sparked a lot of interest from those who would like to see it available as a more private than public forum - an avenue eSec says it will explore.
Glennan said there is also a lot of demand for the course to be tailored to specific company requirements, citing one organisation that wished to send 25 staff to the course.
Attendee feedback
According to Glennan, customer feedback has been excellent, with participants enjoying being in an environment where they could get their hands dirty.
-Surprise was probably the biggest response," he said. -A lot of them [participants] have been flabbergasted at what can be done by hackers".
He said that many attendees discovered what they considered to be -accepted security" was not as safe as they thought it to be.
Systems Engineer Pieter Berkel, who attended the course in Sydney, said he did so to learn about UNIX security.
According to Berkel, the course, which was held in a computer laboratory, was "very hands on". Each attendee had their own computer terminal on which they could try out what they were being taught.
-One really cool feature was that between each computer, there was a screen hooked up to the demonstrator's computer, so you could see exactly what he was doing while conducting the demonstration. At the end of the day, they had a small lab where they set up a challenge so the attendees could have a go at hacking using the skills they had learnt during the day," Berkel said.
Despite only being able to attend a half-day of the course, Berkel said he definitely learnt a few things and uncovered security vulnerabilities that he wasn't aware of in that short time. -I wish I was able to attend the full seminar," he said.
According to Glennan, security software developer and trainer Foundstone - which has had a couple of years to perfect the course in the US - is -extremely pleased" with the attention the course has attracted in Australia and has found it worthwhile, at AU$4600 (plus GST) per participant -- half the price than it does back home, where attendees pay US$3995.
In a previous interview with ZDNet Australia, Foundstone president and chief technical officer, Stuart McClure said it wasn't an issue of demand for security training courses in the Asia Pacific region, but an issue of supply. -We can't keep up with the demand...we get two or three legitimate requests out of Asia Pacific every week," he said.
Aware that Asia will be where a lot of the action is over the next few years, finding its feet, and a partner in Australia, was part of the company's strategic plan.
Glennan also said that he expects to see a lot of consolidation within the security company in the coming months. -We can't all go out and conquer the world," he said.
And with similar philosophies and a lot of synergy between the two organisations, -I think you'll find it's going to be an extremely long-term relationship," Glennan said of the partnership it struck with Foundstone, initially, for a term of around 18 months.
