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NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

nsa.gov

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Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#21

Post by briandear »

maayank wrote: post #6
spiffistan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. That has to be a first from a US government agency.

From what I learned and searched for (sorry, no references), in general the important thing for a security background check for government agencies is not that you have shady business in your past - but that you're willing to be totally transparent to your (governmental) employer. Was in the past a heavy consumer of weed/was part of a cult/always attending protests against federal government policies? No problem, jus…

That's exactly correct. I'll been through the Single Scope process and it was brutal. Remembering what I had for breakfast yesterday is hard enough let alone remembering a coworker from 10 years ago. My clearance took over a year, of course I lived in various East Asian countries for 6 of the past 10 years, so it made it far more interesting.

Discovery of a "Potential to coercion" is the main objective of a poly. If it's all on the table, there'd not much that can be used against you.

Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#23

Post by franzus »

hendzen wrote: post #13
conductor wrote: post #11

Then if you zoom in on bottom of the background ( http://www.nsa.gov/careers/dc20/images/Back.jpg ) in the light blue swoosh there is a message: "GNXR N PYBFRE YBBX NG ANGVBANY FRPHEVGL NG AFN" Which is ROT13 for "TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT NATIONAL SECURITY AT NSA"

Wow, ROT13 and HTML. I'm impressed with the NSA ...

Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#24

Post by Spearchucker »

Zenst wrote: post #2

Have to appreciete the direct honest approach: "It's true that you must be a U.S. citizen, and you'll need a security clearance that requires a background investigation and polygraph. But ... If you have a few, shall we say, indiscretions in your past, don't be alarmed. You shouldn't automatically assume you won't be hired. If you're really interested, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot."

Having some experience of this I know that background is crucial, as is current circumstance. Both need to show beyond doubt that you're trustworthy.

What that means is that if you've been convicted of something you should point that out. If it's serious, like assault, you're out. If it's not serious, like exceeding the speed limit, and you didn't mention it, you're out.

Current circumstances are about trying to uncover anything that might be used as leverage against you. So having excessive debt means you're out. Being gay is absolutely ok, but keeping it a secret from your parents is not.

All techniques, from completing the application form to polygraph and interviews are about finding the chinks.

Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#25

Post by nraynaud »

And if you think it's ok to use national security means to spy on foreign companies to rig the economic competition and if you think a human being from another country has less rights to privacy than one with a US passport, apply.

Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#26

Post by stbullard »

conductor wrote: post #16
stbullard wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing there, I'm afraid. That is, unless they're intercepting Google searches for the decoded phrase, in which case, hello! Feel free to check out my resume, which you can find in my Documents folder, and I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

I can confirm it's there, look closer.

Oh, I saw the ROT13 text; I was saying there's no real easter egg there, just a dead-end tagline.

Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#27

Post by orangethirty »

I love their CSS naming convention.

    #maincontent {
   	width:941px;
	margin:0px auto;
	}

    #maincontentleft {
	width:228px;
	margin:0px auto;
	text-align:left;
	float:left;
	 
	}		

    #maincontentright {
        background-image : url(images/tableGrad.png);
	width:699px;
	margin:0px auto;
	text-align:left;
	 
	float:right;
	color:#ffffff;
	}	

    #maincontentright1 { /* a lowercase L or a number one ? */
        padding:15px;
	}
In their careers page (http://www.nsa.gov/careers/), there is a comment that reads:

I thought they would be using template inheretance for such a big site.

Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#29

Post by ukgent2 »

zschallz wrote: post #22
zeethrow wrote: post #17

Appalling.

Why? Because you don't agree with what they do?

Because its all doublespeak, protect and serve, while attacking and exploiting, just word games, trying to spin the NSA in to a good light. The Defcon talk by the NSA head guy was pretty much the same, doublespeak all the way. In the UK we have GHCQ trying to do the same things their advert was a little more interactive http://www.canyoucrackit.co.uk/

Re: NSA Careers for DEF CON Attendees

#30

Post by timsally »

tptacek wrote: post #28

For a government hiring req, this is shockingly well written.

One of this really interesting things I've discovered over the last year is that the government is really heterogeneous; extraordinary competence exists in many places. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. There are talented hackers working on the kernel instead of Wall Street for ideological reasons. It not that great of a leap to imagine that there are also talented hackers (and people who are talented at recruiting) who ideology causes them to work in government.
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