Uncanny hacks-men to attend special school in grand country home

The home of Britain's World War II code-breaking effort, Bletchley Park, is set to once again house young codebreakers with the first national information security college planning to open in the complex following a £5 million renovation. The 73 year-old building will house talented 16-to-19-year-olds from 2018 as part of a …

[x 7]

how do you get 16 year old kids to keep what they're doing secret? They're too young to appreciate the degree of conspiracy / secrecy required to carry out this work. Theres the risk that their identities will be revealed, making them targets

[smudge]

I would expect that the stuff that they will be taught will be found in publicly available textbooks. Not secret at all.

I would also expect "codebreaking" to be a very small part of their course - if it's included at all. If anything is included then it certainly won't be "national security" grade cryptography. I wasn't suprised to see the BBC have an orgasm over "codebreaking" - but El Reg should have known better.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

@smudge

I wasn't suprised to see the BBC...

Found this little gem in an item linking to that article

"Code is the language in which computer programs, apps and websites are written."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38094076/five-questions-to-prove-youre-a-natural-codebreaker

Whoever it is in the Newsbeat team that wrote it is definitely a graduate of the Stephen Fry School of Computer Science.

[Anonymous Coward]

>how do you get 16 year old kids to keep what they're doing secret?

My mother was 17 when she started at the 'War Office' - still don't know what she did. I only found out she spoke fluent German when I caught her talking to an exchange student in the 1980s. She met my (late) father at the time - he was a little more forthcoming eventually (Y Group) but 1945/46 is a blank. Bearing in mind there were over 10,000 working on interception and related activities, a good many teenage women, maybe 100 of whom ever spoke publicly, your concerns are probably unwarranted.

[I am the liquor]

concerns are probably unwarranted

Somehow I don't share your confidence that the teenagers of today are the same as the teenagers of the Greatest Generation.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: concerns are probably unwarranted

>Somehow I don't share your confidence that the teenagers of today are the same as the teenagers of the Greatest Generation.

I think it depends on the teenager - some join the Royal Marines at 16/17 and don't look back. Admittedly the % of the population that could is probably very much smaller these days.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

Re: mum at the War Office

@AC: please tell your mum "thank you" from me. Whatever she did, it was part of what made it possible for my generation to grow up in peace and comfort.

[Alistair]

Re: mum at the War Office

@ atcshnwt

Upvoted, moi, aussi.

/pokes the rest of the crowd.

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here

My recently deceased Mother was recruited directly from her school in Cambridge to work at BP in 1941. She too spoke fluent German. Her grandmother was German. She came to the UK in 1885.

She only old me about her war after seeing the film about Turing.

I now understood why she had a tear in her eye when I told her all those years ago, I was going to the GPO (later BT) training centre at BP as part of my apprenticeship.

People then just didn't talk about stuff. People could and did die because of loose tongues.

Now, if it isn't 'trending on twatter' or on Facebook inside 5 minutes it didn't happen at all.

I'm not sure if we have progressed or gone backwards.

Some things just need to be kept quiet (not child abuse but national secrets)

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had a nuclear security clearance since I was 17. All the others that went through training were just as deadly serious as I was then. We were selected for that as I understand given what we'd be doing later on.

[JimmyPage]

Is it just me, or does this whiff of "publicity stunt"

cynical ?

[x 7]

what I'm worried about is the kids become targets for future extortion / exploitation. Anyone who is known to have attended is a future target

[Andy Taylor]

Not exactly codebreakers

The idea is to teach cyber security skills - how to protect your computers and data from malicious attacks and how to investigate security breaches when they happen. I don't see how that would make the attendees targets for extortion.

[jake]

Poor kids.

No doubt they will be under heavy surveillance for the rest of their lives. Hopefully none of them will be induced to take Turing's way out ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Poor kids.

>Hopefully none of them will be induced to take Turing's way out ...

It's a convenient myth for activists and government PR stunts, but Turing was not a tortured homosexual driven to suicide. He found the 'persecution' quite amusing and no-one who knew him believed the verdict for a minute. His death was consistent with inhaled cyanide - while very much more, he was also a 'hacker' type and gold-plated cutlery in his spare bedroom to give as gifts.

...he was also cautiously, but publicly, celebrated for his war work and awarded an OBE in 1945, an Olympic standard athlete, fluent technical German speaker (after the war he debriefed Nazi scientists for the intelligence services) and quite partial to sandwiches.

I suppose the Sherlock Turing film at least insures he won't be forgotten, but believing it is a bit like getting your 'downfall of the Nazis' facts from Inglorious Basterds (sic)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Poor kids.

> No doubt they will be under heavy surveillance for the rest of their lives.

You mean the Government might monitor their social media posts in case they let slip anything? Perhaps the Government might follow their every journey using car numberplate recognition cameras placed on every major road and junction? Perhaps the Government might track their mobile phones and be ready to tap their calls in an instant? Or maybe the Government might spy on them in the street using CCTV cameras?

This is 'normal' surveillance in the UK now. 'Heavy' surveillance is when you have to carry the CCTV camera on a pole on your back yourself.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Poor kids.

>You mean the Government might monitor their social media posts in case they let slip anything?

'The Government'? Aren't they being trained to work at GCHQ? Surely they'll be monitoring each others' social media posts?

[JimM]

So it's basically 2 years of A' levels with no subject choice, plus a year of unaccredited cyber training. Gifted kids will want to do A' levels of their choice followed by Oxbridge or their choice of cyber degree.

This initiative should be 1 year post A' level for kids who aren't intending to go to university.

[Anonymous Coward]

The rest I understand but why physics?

[JJKing]

Could they become an enigma by studying at Bletchley Park?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bait and switch

Spin - "Look we are training kids to protect us"

Reality - "We are spending billions on state sponsored surveillance to monitor ALL your activities - everything you do on line and everywhere you go"

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Blowing Raspberries

No doubt code breaking will be performed on Raspberry Pi clusters

[keithpeter]

Hut 6

Reissue of the original first edition of Gordon Welchman's The Hut 6 Story as a set text?

Seriously: peer groups and 'invisible colleges' are important institutions so I wish the first cohort well. They should have a fascinating time.

Coat: mine's the one with the Atlas of finite group representations in the pocket.