Hackers start young
UK trials camps for cyber crims
ONCE upon a time adolescent troublemaking meant sneaking out at night for some underage drinking and general shenanigans.
But these days it’s almost as likely that tech-savvy kids are using the digital world to flex their mischief muscles by committing small-scale cyber attacks like defacing a website, knocking servers offline or accessing restricted networks from behind their home computers.
Speaking with news.com.au, cyber expert Professor Roderic Broadhurst said the only difference between hackers and those that work in cyber security is the latter group had had intervention at some stage.
It’s this reason that the UK Government is trying to intervene with young hackers, trialling a weekend “rehab camp” for teens who have been caught engaging in small-time cyber crimes.
The pilot program, which is put on by the country’s National Crime Agency and grew out of a research project, involves introducing them to white hat hackers and giving them advice about careers in computer security.
The attendees will be monitored in the wake of the program and if it proves successful, it will be rolled out across the UK, the BBC reports.
One participant in the program began hacking after what he described as an accidental hack of a primary school network that locked everyone out of the system. He said it got him hooked on computers and he was soon engaging in social engineers’ exploits to get people to unwittingly give up information to allow him to gain deep access to prohibited systems.
He was eventually arrested after he attacked a company website just for “mischief” but it left the organisation with a hefty bill which it struggled to recover.
“I didn’t mean to do it,” the high-schooler said. “I had no intention to cause harm.”
As part of his suspended sentence, he was made to attend the rehab course.
Prof Broadhurst, a professor of Criminology at the Australian National University who specialises in cyber crime, says he is unaware of any hacker reform programs currently happening in Australia like the one trialled in the UK.
However he told news.com.au that he believes it could “possibly be helpful to shape (teen hackers) at the thrill level.”
Australia’s Signals Directorate – the shadowy government department tasked with digital espionage, or “stealing their secrets and protecting ours” as their motto goes – has recently tapped Aussie high schools as part of a recruitment drive.
Ethan Thomas, from the UK’s National Crime Agency, says getting to talented young hackers and computer criminals early was the key.
“The skills are so transferable with this crime type,” he said. “If you have good cyber skills there are many, many qualifications you can take.”