Hackers are used to call bad guys but in reality this is not (always) true. In some situations they can be the integral part of national cyber security system especially in those small or midsize countries where the army or the secret services don’t have enough resources and knowledge to avoid a complex network attack. The study examines the public and realistic possibilities of a midsize Central-European country in cyber defense using the experiences of last years’ net wars. It’s clear that a small country hasn’t got enough professionals in this area and such an attack is too fast for a sudden NATO response so some kind of public-private partnership is required. The paper gives some possible solutions for this cooperation involving civil professionals and hackers. It also studies the hackers’ attitude of a midsize Central-European country based on personal interviews and anonymous questionnaire focusing on their opinion about participating in national security. In the last part the type of involvement is proposed and the motivations are examined including the great question: why should we trust in hackers?

1. Hackers in the national cyber security Csaba Krasznay IT Security Consultant Hewlett-Packard Hungary Ltd.

2. News headlines

16. The level of patriotism

18. Attack or defense

20. Current jobs

22. Opinion about the army

26. Thank you!