Denmark's PET (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste), the country's intelligence agency, announced last week plans to create a so-called "hacker academy" which will train black hat hackers for offensive and defensive purposes.

PET's hacking school is scheduled to start August 1, 2016, and the training program includes three modules spread across four and a half months.

The first one is a basic module on network, IT infrastructure and advanced security, the second is a module on defensive hacking, and the last will teach participants about offensive hacking techniques.

Hacker academy's location is being kept secret

Training will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark's capital, at an undisclosed location, and once students finish their courses, they'll be enrolled in PET's Computer Network Exploitation team.

PET will take in only a few hackers per year, and the recruitment process will go through the same high-quality stages applied for the Royal Danish Navy's commando corps, which includes a long series of psychological exams.

Unlike other countries that run shadow programs that very few people know about, the PET is direct about its plans, publishing an official announcement on its website, and even launching a media campaign with ads in local newspapers, bus stations, and billboards.

Standards aren't as high as you'd think

In a statement given to Danish newspaper Politiken, PET boss Lars Findsen said that participants don't have to be top-level hackers, but only have basic knowledge on which the agency can build upon.

This has something to do with the country's small size, of only 5.6 million people, less than half the population of Moscow alone.

PET says that its hacker academy will provide qualified personnel so the country could form a cyber-espionage division to spy on other countries and terrorists activating abroad or inside Denmark's borders.

You can see one of PET's ads below. The poster's text says: "Have you got what it takes to become a member of a secret elite unit?"