Alarm Raised On Teenage Hackers 213
Arno Igne writes to tell us that the number of underage participants in "high-tech" crimes has risen steeply in recent history. Reporting children as young as 11 swapping credit card details and asking for hacks, many are largely unskilled and thus more likely to get caught and arrested. "Communities and forums spring up where people start to swap malicious programs, knowledge and sometimes stolen data. Some also look for exploits and virus code that can be run against the social networking sites popular with many young people. Some then try to peddle or use the details or accounts they net in this way. Mr Boyd said he spent a lot of time tracking down the creators of many of the nuisance programs written to exploit users of social networking sites and the culprit was often a teenager."
"Underage"? (Score:5, Interesting)
Using kids (Score:5, Interesting)
That's how I'd operate if I were a fraudster - have the kids to the dirty work and give them a cut. There are hordes of bored shithead suburban kids who would love to be "elite haxxors" and they would most likely avoid prosecution the first time.
I forget the term... (Score:5, Interesting)
I forget the term, but there are laws on the books that state that if you are a landlord, and you continually have tenants who engage in criminal activity that the authorities can confiscate the house. It is a slow process, but the point is that if you own the property that you have some responsibility in insuring that it isn't being used for purposes that are harmful to society.
Apply that to social networking sites and...
Jobs for Kids (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:This is new? (Score:2, Interesting)
Then there were the glories of carbon-transfer paper and the mall dumpsters (away from the food court ones). Dumb kids + tech = felonies ahoy! It's been like that for decades.
Re:Jobs for Kids (Score:2, Interesting)
Fraud was common when I was a kid (Score:4, Interesting)
I grew up in Socal. Many people I knew would beige box 900 numbers to get time on a local BBS. Several got all sorts of gear, mostly paintball crap, through credit card numbers gained through dumpster diving. These were mostly 16-17 year olds doing the deed, with some doing it younger, but it's harder when you can't drive.
The temptation was huge but I managed to not give in. Heck, the temptation still is huge. Why work hard when you can make a few thousand in a few minutes? Oh yeah, because it's wrong. Sigh.
Re:Gosh, underage hackers with no skill? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah , this is really worth a 'nothing to see here , move along'.
I mean , this is nothing new . It's been that way for over a century.
I don't like that they track down the 'creator's of those nuisance programs ' , though . Programming these things is a fun way of learning how it works.
They should be going after the people who USE it for malicious purpose instead.
I mean , maybe we should just lock up the creators of the Windows API , because you can really do some damage with that.
Script Kiddies have been around longer than that (Score:3, Interesting)
I didn't really know a damn thing about shell scripts or programming (remember when they were different things?) in those days, but I knew how to change permissions on a file and execute it. And I had some vague knowledge of the basics of how computers talked to each other. And I got into all *kinds* of trouble. It was truly bitchin', and I don't regret a thing.
Re:if you can't or won't (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I forget the term... (Score:3, Interesting)
Apply to ISPs also. Problem is today that most ISPs actively shield users on their system which engage in malicious activity.
This is the real answer. Nobody is going to go for MS Windows being too easy to compromise, and nobody is going to go for Myspace (websites generally are not held to real-company laws). However, ISPs that host computers doing phishing, spaming, DDoSing, botnet herding, or other malicious activity should be shut down. I don't care if the computer doing the malicious activity is a compromised Windows machine or not, if the owner is aware or not, or if the owner approved of the ativity or not. Hit the ISPs, let them hit the users, and only then will the users demand a secure OS and secure applications.
Way overdue for another Operation Sundevil? (Score:3, Interesting)
Targetting them, due to their own idiocy. (Score:1, Interesting)
It is always funny rewriting a script to target a groups site that was using them.
In fact, recently, this very same thing happened on 4chan, AGAIN, due to the incredibly high numbers of stupid kids on the /b/ board who actually listen to instructions.
God, the amount of people who downloaded and ran that script... such a high number of idiots in one place is astounding, and somewhat depressing.
Wonderful! (Score:3, Interesting)
This means that law enforcement will spend all their time going after this low-hanging fruit, and the public's fear will be assuaged because of all the "hackers" that are getting put in juvie - while the real troublemakers are left completely alone.
Re:Gosh, underage hackers with no skill? (Score:3, Interesting)
Move to one of the states in the link I provided and you can.
Step 1. Fill out ATF form 4 (which includes fingerprint card and $200 tax.)
Step 2. Wait 1 week to 6 months for approval and buy NFA item when the ATF grudgingly accepts that you aren't a felon, insane, or for some other reason not allowed to own Title 2 hardware.
Step 3. Don't profit (Full auto: nothing makes a paycheck disappear faster.)