ICANN hires hacker as security chief

Boston: A hacker who goes by the name Dark Tangent was hired to oversee security for the nonprofit group that manages all Internet addresses to make sure each one is unique.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said on Thursday that it has hired hacker Jeff Moss as its chief security officer.

Moss is founder of Def Con, the world's largest conference for hackers, which meets in Las Vegas each summer. He also founded Black Hat, a smaller hacking conference that targets businesses.

Moss, a hacker who uses his skills to fight Internet crime, also serves as a member of the Obama Administration's Homeland Security Advisory Council.

"He has the in-depth insider's knowledge that can only come from fighting in the trenches of the ongoing war against cyber threats," ICANN Chief Executive Rod Beckstrom said in a statement.