They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
1–10 of 55 posts
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#2The district should hire these guys, because they're obviously more competent than the current IT staff.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#3I hate that cultural thing where actions like this are treating as something good to be glorified - while simultaneously threatening them with jail.
What about not overreacting either way, teaching them right and wrong, legal and illegal too and punishing them in age appropriate way without involving cops.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#4I'm almost surprised that school administrators are still pulling the same shit they did 19 years ago. I have basically the same story. I dropped out and got a GED after I was framed by a malicious network admin and expelled, the record of which followed me to each subsequent school. I still managed to work my way into having a career, luckily. But the effects on my family and my development as a kid were significant.
Not only is it unfair, it's hypocritical. First the school keeps the lamest possible security practices (or none at all), and then they punish the kids that stumble onto unprotected systems. It's like keeping unlocked storage closets where kids could get into harsh chemicals, and then recommending the state pursue criminal charges when the kids find them and spill them everywhere. The bigger question is, Why did the school leave the closet unlocked, and why is the school not held accountable??
To answer the article's question, they should partner with other school districts to offer advanced cybersecurity programs to gifted students. At the very least, get the kids to participate in something like picoCTF so they have an outlet for their talents. After-school programs in addition to more advanced online classes will really help.
But also, schools should stop being run by moronic fear-mongering administrators with no conscience.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#5I 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 same guy, with a note saying, "make sure to change the password!"
I had access to EVERYTHING. But, I was a pretty good kid, so I just poked around enough to really verify that I could do anything and then I logged out and never logged back in. I was terrified that I was going to get in huge trouble just for accessing things I shouldn't have.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#6A school system, where this level of potential and passion goes unnoticed and unharnessed for good, is a broken system. The full extent of their exploits remain unclear, due to ongoing legal action, but it should have been detected well and truly before it got to the CCTV access stage.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#7If they just got in, didn't break stuff, didn't copy test papers or change grades, didn't victimise anyone - just took some electric and processing power - then they resisted a lot of temptation (or didn't realise quite the power they were holding).
Give the proceeds to charity, repay the electric from their own pockets (eg by doing chores), get them on a course or give them hardware to set up comps they can hack at legally.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#8The school taped passwords for anyone's eyes. What did they expect? Based on the available info, all the boys did was use available login details, and installed remote login software and cypto mining software and played cia surveillance.
The school's extremely negligent / tech poor and they want to hide their embarrassment by blowing up the skills of the boys. Anyone who has used team viewer will testify that it's impossible to hide a remote viewing session from the client screen.
The boys should sue for entrapment.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#9I'm almost surprised that school administrators are still pulling the same shit they did 19 years ago. I have basically the same story. I dropped out and got a GED after I was framed by a malicious network admin and expelled, the record of which followed me to each subsequent school. I still managed to work my way into having a career, luckily. But the effects on my family and my development as a kid were significant…
We might be doppelgängers. However, you do have to acknowledge that schools and budgets for education infrastructure will NEVER be adequate.
I do agree with your suggestions though: tap into those students and offer them an outlet, while stressing the ethical and legal concerns with this line of work.
Re: They Hacked Their School District When They Were 12
#10A school system, where this level of potential and passion goes unnoticed and unharnessed for good, is a broken system. The full extent of their exploits remain unclear, due to ongoing legal action, but it should have been detected well and truly before it got to the CCTV access stage.
I'm wondering how one would break into a CCTV system without physical access. Are these systems connected to the internet?