They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12 • Hacker News Board

Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12

#51

Post by watwut » Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 4:54 PM UTC

ballenf wrote: post #47

auganov wrote: post #42

So they mined crypto, installed backdoors, accessed camera footage... and the story is generally positive and defensive of them[0]. This clearly goes beyond "just a prank" and depending on the severity ranges from very irresponsible to anti-social and malicious. [0] for the record I don't mean it shouldn't be, it just sounds bad enough, so imagine how bad a non-charitable take would be

By 'backdoors' are you referring to the TeamViewer client they installed on a student computer in the back of a science classroom? If so, suddenly my grandma is now a leet hacker.

That is backdoor, just not particularly leet or advanced. Low skill hacking and backdoor are still hacking and backdoor. Article makes them sound like cybersecurity geniuses, not comment here. Article is all odd.

Imo, the actual tech achievement there (for that age) is building mining computer and learning javascript basics from video. Which is more then other kids can do and shows some self motivation.

Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12

#52

Post by Avamander » Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 6:39 PM UTC

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #44

Someone1234 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is worth considering that we've gone through several moral panics about "hacking," particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That's why computer crime laws are so disproportionate (e.g. spray paint a physical sign get a $100 fine, vandalize a digital sign get five-ten years in prison). They were written when a bunch of ignorant lawmakers were freaking out about hackers turn off electricity or wiping out the…

Yep. I've been shouted down at our work book club while reading Mitnicks memoir. I said that a good amount of early hacking was "e-trespass" and "e-vandalism". The non-e versions of those crimes are low grade misdemeanors. Yet, it was a bunch of shitty laws that somehow elevate them to manslaughter and 2nd degree murder equalivalent.

This might be also because most governments and police absolutely lack the knowledge to catch any cybercriminals or to even understand the crimes. The punishment isn't surprising to me if I take their fear into account.

Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12

#53

Post by xs » Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 7:13 PM UTC

If you like this story you may like this podcast episode. 15 year old hacks his school and gets more than he bargained for. https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/17/

Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12

#54

Post by xfitm3 » Sat, Nov 10, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

Rjevski wrote: post #30

TipVFL wrote: post #5

I had a similar level of access to my school's network when I was 12. It was really easy, just watch the teacher slowly peck-type her password. It was "teach". That gave me access to everything for her class. Later on she had to log in to the admin account, and that password was "burger". It turned out to be the password for every admin account in every school in my district. I'm guessing they were all set up by the…

> It was really easy, just watch the teacher slowly peck-type her password. It was "teach". Exact same story on my side, and the password wasn't much better either. The worst is that she hinted at what the password could be (I assumed it was a joke to calm down curious kids) but it was totally right when I managed to actually see that password for myself.

The computer password in my school was "secret". We'd always ask the teacher for the password and we were told "its a secret".

Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12

#55

Post by thomasfedb » Sun, Nov 11, 2018, 12:37 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #40

thomasfedb wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend and I managed to gain superuser access to my school's systems (including remote screen access to every teacher's laptop) when I was in secondary school. After a little playing around we handed the duty technician a post-it note with the superuser password on it and told them we would explain how we found it if they wanted. I was summoned to the office of the head of IT, congratulated, asked to explain how we…

Because your school ran its own IT. In today's north america schools this is contracted out, or at least covered by a multi-school or district team who never talk to actual children. Any kid finding a flaw is a threat to that contract or system. Administrators dont want to look foolish, or admit liability for a flawed system, so they go after the kid (Modern privacy laws make them fearful of admitting anything.) Reme…

Our IT department each rotated through being the Helpdesk person who talked to kids all day. They ran our robotics club. If you were interested in mail servers, or LDAP, etc they'd invite you in to see the server room.

I suppose they felt they had a duty to teach us, just like the rest of the staff.