BEIJING, Aug. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Top cyber-security analysts are gathering in the Chinese capital for a summit to boost security in the sector, amid the increasing threat of computer hacking worldwide.
About 300 participants from countries including the United States, Japan and Australia are attending the two-day summit, which starts on Wednesday and is initiated by XFOCUS, a Chinese information security society.
Starting from a website in 1999 created by information security professionals, XFOCUS has organized eight Xcon conferences since 2002 for professionals in the industry to exchange skills and meet friends.
The meeting has drawn wide media attention partly because China has grown quickly to become the country with the biggest Internet population in 2009 and consequently experienced frequent cases of cyber attacks, analysts said.
The conference gathers information security professionals to exchange skills and welcomes stakeholders to discuss technical issues, said Fang Xing, a veteran participant and a speaker at the meeting. Fang is also one of 16 core members of XFOCUS.
"We don't want to be confused with the so-called hackers," said Fang, CEO of the Nanjing-based information technology cooperation, Vulnhunt.
There are two camps within the hacker community, Fang said. One is called "the black hat" and its members attack systems, while members of the other "white hat" group defend systems from being attacked, said the 37-year-old Fang.
"Although many people call us 'hackers', actually we are the 'white hats' who have conducted deep research on hackers' technologies to help enterprises and users defend themselves against hackers," Fang said.
Veteran US hackers, who recently concluded a meeting in Las Vegas known for attracting rogue software savants that have found ways to "crack" items including smart phones, Web browsers and power plants, are also attending the conference in Beijing, AFP reported.
