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Ankit Fadia

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Ankit Fadia is an Indian computer security consultant based in Silicon Valley, USA. He has authored several books on computer security. Fadia is currently pursuing his Bachelors in Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University .

Cracking claims

Fadia was educated at Delhi Public School. He started a website called "Hacking Truths", which he claims was judged as the "second best hacking site in the world by the FBI". He claims that when he was 14, he trashed the front page of an Indian magazine's website. He then sent an e-mail to the editor confessing to the hack, suggesting counter measures. At 15, his book on Ethical Hacking made him the youngest author to be published by Macmillan India.. He claims that in 2001, he discovered links between the Chinese government and the China Eagle Union, a cracker group responsible for defacing many U.S. web sites. He stated that the "long-term goal of the Chinese government is actually to take over the internet and control all parts of the internet". However none of these claims have been proved by substantial evidence so far.

As per his claims, in November 2001, Fadia was consulted by a classified intelligence agency for breaking an encrypted message which was believed to have been sent by one of Osama Bin Laden's men.. No evidence has ever been found to support this claim too. Many publications wrongly reported that Fadia is associatied with FBI or CIA, however, he himself denied this.

In April 2002, Rediff.com published an interview with Ankit Fadia. Anti-India Crew (AIC), a Pakistani hacker group noted for defacing Indian Government websites, rubbished the claims that Fadia had made in the interview. Fadia had claimed that his alert to a U.S. spy agency had prevented an attack by Pakistani hackers. However, he never divulged the name of the agency, citing security reasons. AIC and another Pakistani hacker group WFD defaced an Indian Government site, epfindia.gov.in, and "dedicated" it to Fadia in mock deference to his capabilities to hack or prevent hacking. AIC also said that it would be defacing the website of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), www.cbec.gov.in, within two days and challenged Fadia to prevent the attack by patching the vulnerable website. AIC maintained that Fadia should stop calling himself a hacker, if it succeeded in hacking the CBEC website. AIC kept its promise and defaced the CBEC website after two days. At another defaced website (bhelhyd.co.in), AIC termed the claims of Indian media about Ankit Fadia as "Bullshit".

Fadia's earlier site, Ankitfadia.com, was attacked in 2003, by a cracker who self-identified as SkriptKiddie. Fadia explained that he was using a private web server for hosting his website and they were responsible for the lack of security.

Fadia has also claimed that he works closely with the Government of Singapore. He has also conducted many lectures and workshops for companies, college students and several law enforcement agencies

Published works

Fadia has authored six books on topics related to Computer Security, including:

  • Network Security: A Hacker's Perspective
  • The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking
  • Hacking Mobile Phones

He claims that his books are being used as text books in computer security courses across South-East Asia.

Future plans

In 2005, Fadia said that he is going to write a thriller on the lines of Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, which he hopes to make into a movie. He claimed that a production company has approached him with a blanket offer. He said that he was also planning a restaurant in Pune or Ahmedabad.

Recognition

Ankit Fadia has been honored with numerous awards, including the IT Leader Award 2005 and the Indo-American Society Young Achiever Award 2005. In 2002, the Limca Book of Records declared him among the "People of The Year". Ankit Fadia has also sponsored the "Ankit Fadia Information Security Award", which is given annually by The Singapore Management University, to an outstanding student in the Information Security and Trust Course under the Bachelor of Science (Information System Management) degree programme.

Criticism

In 2006, questions were raised about authenticity of Fadia's various claims at many discussion groups, forums, and mailing lists. This was triggered by a post titled "Ankit Fadia : The real picture". His critics claim that he is overhyped and point out that he is that he has never developed any hacking technique, tool, or algorithm, and none of his tutorials or books had original content.

Many reviewers at Amazon.com said that he had copied outdated hacking tutorials from the Internet and compiled them into a book.

References

  1. ^ "ISACA celebrates 10th anniversary". Corporate Publishing International. 2006-12-06. Retrieved 2006-12-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "stanford_daily" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. "Stanford.Who search result: ankit fadia". Retrieved 2006-12-06.
  3. ^ Wendy McAuliffe (2001-08-07). "Schoolboy's book on ethical hacking an online hit". ZDNet, UK. Retrieved 2006-07-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Indian hacker turns cyber cop". BBC News. 2002-04-17. Retrieved 2006-07-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. "Ankit Fadia's new books". Chennai Online. 2006-01-27. Retrieved 2006-08-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. "Cracking hacking". The Hindu. 2003-01-28. Retrieved 2006-08-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. "E2 labs to combat cyber crime in Hyderabad". The Hindu Business Line. 2003-04-19. Retrieved 2006-12-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. Manoj Kumar (2003-04-13). "Teen hacker who is sought after by FBI". The Tribune, Chandigarh. Retrieved 2006-08-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. http://www.rediff.com/search/2002/apr/18ankit.htm
  10. ^ K. Srinivas Reddy (2002-04-30). "Hacker threat to CBEC website". The Hindu. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  11. "The defaced version of bhelhyd.co.in". Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  12. "Fighting fire with fire". Computer Times. 2003-08-06. Retrieved 2006-07-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. "The Ethical Hacker: Ankit Fadia". Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  14. "Young cyber security guru from USA". The Tribune, Chandigarh. 2005-09-12. Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  15. "Workshop on Hacking at MANIT". Central Chronicle. 2006-01-21. Retrieved 2006-12-19.
  16. "Nair enters record books". Retrieved 2006-12-19.
  17. "Ankit Fadia Information Security Award". Retrieved 2006-12-19.
  18. "A post at FSF-Friends mailing list". Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  19. Amazon.com reviews: The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking, Network Security: A Hacker's Perspective

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