Comment Articles

Turning script kiddies into programmers

Robert Vamosi AnchorDesk

Published: 22 Jan 2002 13:56 GMT

Several other well-publicised Internet crimes have been the result of youthful exuberance and inexperience. We have Dutch-born Jan de Wit, the 20-year-old who wrote the Anna virus using an online worm generator kit; Michael Buen and Onel de Guzman, the 20-something Filipino college students who allegedly wrote the ILOVEYOU virus; MafiaBoy, the 17-year-old Canadian who created one of the best known denial-of-service attacks in February, 2000; and Benjamin Troy Breuninger, the recently sentenced 22-year-old who broke into the Lawrence Livermore Labs. The list goes on.

Fortunately, some youths use their interest in computer security for good. Unfortunately, their actions rarely receive explosive media coverage. I am hard-pressed to find more than two examples.

The first is Namit Merchant, a 16-year-old who passed his six-hour Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) exam, and, having satisfied other membership requirements, recently became one of the youngest CISSPs in the world.

The second is Ankit Fadia, a 16-year-old student who used part of last summer's vacation to write a book about computer hacking for MacMillan. The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking is now available at bookstores in India.

I'm sure I've missed others. But like I said, the do-gooders don't make the news as much as the troublemakers. Perhaps you know of other youths making positive contributions to computer science. You can tell us about them by posting in the AnchorDesk forum.

Here's what I recommend. If you're a systems administrator, security consultant, or other type of computer professional, speak to local high school computer clubs when possible. Reach out to those young people who are interested in what you do, and show them how they can use computers to do good things.

Granted, you won't immediately stop all nefarious activity carried out by young people on the Net. But then again, you might inspire someone who will lead the next generation's fight against malicious attacks.

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