Hacker Habituals

An interesting article on Wired about rehabilitating hackers , rather than treating them as outcasts. Despite the portrayal of hackers in movies and sci-fi fiction - there are real lives behind these hackers .  IT security, data security, sql injection are all in the news daily - so the more we undertand the wider context - but better we can design security techniques. 

The National Crime Agency is launching a hacker ‘rehab’ programme directed towards young computer criminals. The Prevent programme is not just for hackers that have been arrested, but also for young hackers with cautions and police officer visits – the first prevention weekend took place in July and consisted of seven young people that had been caught committing computing crimes.

One man spoke to the NCA who had previously committed computer crimes as a teen. At the age of 13, the young teen was spending all day and everyday hooked on his computer. He rapidly became part of the hacktivist group and targeted different large organisations such as the CIA, The X factor and the US Senate. For such a young hacker to become involved with large criminal organisations is dangerous and these organisations are becoming more common and accessible to become a part of as the technology of today makes rapid developments. “I would probably have wanted to get involved with a programme like this at the age of around 13, and mostly to interact with better hackers,” the young man who committed these computer crimes years ago, told WIRED. “Kids need mentors in all subjects. Hackers are naturally curious. Giving them the opportunity to express themselves is a great idea. It's very simple and effective.”

Although these young expert hackers are considered as tier 1 threats to national security, their intentions are not to commit criminal offences but about curiosity and a talent that can be acknowledged in the online world. The crimes perpetrated are regularly intended for fun and also viewed as a game for lots of young teens for example, one teen who is attending the new and upcoming programme, became drawn into hacking after he had an early fascination with number and when he accidently hacked a primary school network he realised he could continue to hack bigger and better systems out of curiosity and with the intention of fun.

The main aim of the rehab is to show the upcoming generation how their skills can be applied effectively and through and encouraging manor, not in listing what is good and bad etc. The alternative to implementing this programme and trying to still allow youths with computer fascinations and hacking skills is to demonise hackers and give out large prison sentences such as is the system in the US.

Security is one of the hottest growth areas in IT , where Security Risk Analysis and database security  is implicit within all application developers and software professionals design considerations

The full article on Wired is here 

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