According to some latest reports, British intelligence and security agency MI5 has hired 50 ex-hackers to counter hacking and cyber crimes activities in the country, many people have shown their concerns and have criticized this move.

According to top officials of British government, the hackers which have been hired by the Government will play an important role in countering the cyberspace terrorism that has recently been traced by Britain. In a report to Lord West, British Security Minister, Mr Evans has revealed that their have been several attempts of cyber attacks on different British IT assets. He also said that most of these hackers belong to the Asian countries, and are subjected to strict background security checks, as this practice has already been done for other security officials at the time of hiring.

The hired hackers have signed the ‘Official Secret Act’, which will bind them not to disclose any sort of official information to their relatives and friends, these hackers will work for newly created ‘Cyber Operations Command’. According to some media reports, most of these hackers are teenagers and have been convicted for cyber crime activities in the past.

Hiring of these hackers to fight the war against cyber crimes has been seen by many critics as unnecessary and unacceptable, main reason for their criticism is that this action by the government gives an impression that ‘you should be a hacker to fight cyber crimes’. According to them it also confuses general public regarding the legality of hacking and encourages them to do this negative activity, it also gives them a signal that hacking can be their skill set to protect their country against cyber crimes.

According to the critics, people who have been punished for their criminal activities must be considered as criminals, rather than heroes for their nation. What do you think?