Cyber-troops taught to tackle terror

A prestigious Shanghai university has opened China's first school aimed at teaching students how to guard against Internet-based attacks staged by anyone from terrorists to technological superpowers.

'Part of the school's mission is to teach students how to fight Internet terrorists,' said Jiang Hong, an administrator at Jiaotong University.

The new Information Security Engineering School at Jiaotong, the alma mater of President Jiang Zemin and Qian Xuesen, the father of China's rocket programme, is training the first generation of cyber special forces, Mr Jiang Hong said.

The new school was jointly established by the Shanghai city Government, the central Government, and Jiaotong, he said. It would 'become the centre of training in information security throughout China'.

'The school provides courses on security threats on the Internet and potential shields,' said Mr Jiang.

He said the school would offer Master's degrees to students drawn from Jiaotong and government departments, and that students would be trained to write anti-virus programs and other defensive software. Most of the course content would have to remain secret.

Xu Feng, an official at the Information Security School's administrative office, said that 'the hackers of today could become the terrorists of tomorrow', adding that the country had to prepare for the threat.