Senior Lecturer in Computer information and forensics, and member of the Communication & Computing Research Centre, Dr David Day, helped the Metropolitan Police take down the Lulzsec group of computer hackers.

In a Newsnight special, David meets the former hacker Mustafa al-Bassam, who called himself 'T Flow', to ask him why he committed crimes for Lulzsec.

And science editor Susan Watts asks David whether he thinks employing convicted hackers as computer security trackers is a good idea, on the back of the Ministry of Defence's announcement of its new Joint Cyber Reserve Unit.

The MoD's £500m initiative will recruit hundreds of computer experts to defend national security.

BBC Two [21 Oct]
Newsnight
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03ffvjb/Newsnight_21_10_2013/

BBC News [22 Oct]
UK cyber defence unit 'may include convicted hackers'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24613376