Hyderabad|India|August'2009: Hyderabad based E2 Labs engaged in Information security consultancy and training signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on Technology transfer, Training and Consultancy Services with Astalavista (Community), a popular comprehensive computer security website today. The MOU was signed by Dr.Zaki Qureshey, Founder & Chairman - E2 Labs and Mr. George Nicolaou, Head Research & Development, Astalavista (Community). E2 Labs which is among the top 100 companies of Asia (Red Herring) recognized the need for information security long back and was the first in Asia to start the School of Ethical Hacking at Hyderabad in 2003.

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Zaki Qureshey, Founder & Chairman - E2 Labs said, “Education is the Key to IT Security. India is fast emerging as a major hub of cybercrimes, Information Security is a prime concern now. Cyber attacks could be more economically devastating than the physical attacks. Insecure machines are a big threat to an organizations’ security and information infrastructure. With this MOU, E2 Labs provides an opportunity to co-develop a state of the art Cyber Security Programs with World renowned security czars. The training programs offered in collaboration with Astalavista.com are viz. Hands-On-Penetration Testing; Securing Wi-Fi Networks and Advanced Reverse Engineering, a program which is being offered for the first time in India, added Dr. Zaki. The training programs are aimed at System Administrators, Researchers, Ethical Hackers, Novice Computer Users etc.

Commenting on the significance of the MOU with E2 Labs, George Nicolaou said, “We are committed to help organizations around the world and in India with E2 Labs to secure the information which is most critical asset of the Nation. With the increase in computer connectivity, a host of new risks with computer hackers exploiting the vulnerabilities in the software and computer system increase manifold. Increasing awareness and training people is a significant step.”

The MOU envisaging building technical knowledge pool and development of skilled human resources is in the right direction, commented Dr. Zaki. As per the MOU, there would be two-way transfer of technology information and knowledge through collaborative programs such as internships, guest lectures, seminar and symposia. Exchange of visits of technical people of the industry to institute and vice-versa, provide access to knowledge resources of the institute to the industry and vice versa will be a part of it, said Dr. Zaki.

Information Security is of paramount importance and a current hot topic with cyber crime assuming alarming proportions to the absolute detriment of the global community. With myriad problems ranging from Cyber Terrorism, unruly Hackers, Government espionage, eaves dropping & input tampering and virus attacks that are crippling Organizations and Governments with billions of dollars in losses across the globe to devastating effect, the crying need of the hour is to join forces and collaboratively formulate a framework of policies and laws to nip such threats in the bud and facilitate a Terror free Cyber world and pave way for India to emerge as the superpower in Information & Communications Technology.

About Astalavista: Astalavista.com - The Underground, is one of the world’s most popular and comprehensive computer security web sites. It was founded in 1997, by a hacker computer enthusiast. The name of the site came from the unforgettable line in the Terminator 2 movie - “Hasta Lavista baby”. Since then, the site became the underground’s most respected and well maintained portal for anything you ever wanted to know about security. The enormous database, the constant updates, the unique nature of the content published, the new services and features, all offered for free, turned Astalavista.com into what it is today - a cult! Astalavista is visited by home and enterprise users, universities, government and military institutions on a daily basis, making the site an extremely popular security community. The member portal currently has 18,923 members.

About E2 Labs: E2 Labs offers the only power packed, State-of-the-Art Training, Research & Development, Consultancy & services which cater to the current need of the hour across the globe on Information Security. E2-Labs, we are a cutting edge technology enterprise operating in the vital and ever evolving sphere of information security. E2-LABS IS AMONG THE TOP 100 COMPANIES OF ASIA (RED-HERRING), AND ALSO THE FASTEST GROWING INFORMATION SECURITY COMPANIES. IT IS THE FIRST IN ASIA TO START THE SCHOOL OF ETHICAL HACKING, IN HYDERABAD – INDIA.