Cybersecurity gurus bolster online integrity

Students are learning how to identify and resolve vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. Cao Yin reports.

As a schoolboy, Bai Zelong was an online games enthusiast. His main sense of achievement was derived from completing as many game levels as possible.

Today, as a member of Dubhe, a student cybersecurity team at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Bai has stood out in many contests across the country. His sense of achievement now revolves around discovering and preventing as many online vulnerabilities as he can.

Last month, the 21-year-old undergraduate and his teammates once again won first prize at a national cybersecurity competition, this time at an event in Beijing.

When asked, "Who was your first cybersecurity teacher?" Bai replied, "Online games."

About 10 years ago, he admired players who could complete games quickly "because their effortless victories looked so cool", he said. He added that it piqued his curiosity to figure out what allowed those players to finish games faster than anyone else.

After some investigation, he discovered that the secret of their success was a cheating program that helped improve their playing skills by tampering with the normal settings and rules of online games.

"In simple terms, such a cheating program is a kind of game modifier. People using it will win games more easily," Bai said.