Kids 'using coding skills to hack' friends

[Hum]

Children as young as 11 years old are writing malicious computer code to hack accounts on gaming sites and social networks, experts have said.

A report from antivirus company AVG detailed evidence of programs written to "steal" virtual currency.

In one case, researchers were able to reverse-engineer "amateur" code to reveal data about the identity of one child in Canada.

The company said children must be educated on coding "rights and wrongs".

"As more schools are educating people for programming in this early stage, before they are adults and understand the impact of what they're doing, this will continue to grow." said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at AVG.

The researchers found that many instances of malware targeting games popular with children shared the same characteristics.

Most were written using basic coding languages such as Visual Basic and C#, and were written in a way that contain quite literal schoolboy errors that professional hackers were unlikely to make - many exposing the original source of the code.

more

[n_K]

"Children as young as 11 years old are writing malicious computer code to hack accounts on gaming sites and social networks, experts have said."

So? They have been for over 10 years. Not like it's something new.

[MillionVoltss]

Im sure the term ' Script Kiddies ' has been out for a long time. So before there was a term, the kids would of been doing it for a while. Back then it was basic, Editing score's and programmes in DOS based hex editors to learning about telnet and like. Also 11, isn't exactly young.

[Growled Member]

The 90's called and wants their report back. :laugh:

[Lant]

I'm more annoyed that they called C# a basic programming language.

[Ambroos]

It's not really hacking, looks more like phishing. Creating some simple forms that claim to do something with some game or your Facebook where you have to enter your login data isn't really hacking now is it.

[Andre S. Veteran]

I'm more annoyed that they called C# a basic programming language.

In a more positive view, it's nice that C# can be effectively used as a "basic programming language", i.e. without any former programming experience. That it caters to such widely different crowds just shows how well designed it is. :)

[Zlain]

I loll'ed because I have no friends

Oh wait..

[srbeen]

Yeah, phishing for your friends details is the first step in phishing for strangers cc# and bank accounts.

[FloatingFatMan]

The 90's called and wants their report back. :laugh:

I was doing this in the early 80's... :p

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

dial up called...it wants it's dial-tone back...because script kiddies are awesome /s

[Kelxin]

I was doing this in the early 80's... :p

Same.

Edit: I miss running my BBS and Legend of the Red Dragon.

[FloatingFatMan]

Same.

Edit: I miss running my BBS and Legend of the Red Dragon.

Aaah, those were the good old days... :p

I'm actually quite heartened to see this article. I thought the days of 11 year olds getting into programming were long gone thanks to the likes of Facebook sucking their brains out... I was 11 when I built my first computer. Sinclair's ZX80, the DIY kit! A pcb, a case, a bag of components and a soldering iron! Whee! :p

[Growled Member]

I was doing this in the early 80's... :p

I'm not an old fart like you. :p

[FloatingFatMan]

I'm not an old fart like you. :p

Gerrof mah lawn!

[leesmithg]

Children as young as 11 years old are writing malicious computer code to hack accounts on gaming sites and social networks, experts have said.

A report from antivirus company AVG detailed evidence of programs written to "steal" virtual currency.

In one case, researchers were able to reverse-engineer "amateur" code to reveal data about the identity of one child in Canada.

The company said children must be educated on coding "rights and wrongs".

"As more schools are educating people for programming in this early stage, before they are adults and understand the impact of what they're doing, this will continue to grow." said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at AVG.

The researchers found that many instances of malware targeting games popular with children shared the same characteristics.

Most were written using basic coding languages such as Visual Basic and C#, and were written in a way that contain quite literal schoolboy errors that professional hackers were unlikely to make - many exposing the original source of the code.

more

The script kiddies are cracking, not hacking.