Children MUST be taught the dangers of turing completeness

AVG: 11-Year-Olds Are Writing Malware

Company CTO Yuval Ben-Itzhak says most kids are doing it to show off to their peers.
By Jeff Goldman | Posted February 08, 2013

Share

In a recent blog post, Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CTO of AVG Technologies, said AVG's Virus Labs team has uncovered evidence that children as young as 11 years old are developing malware.

"Mostly kids writing malware are doing it to show off to their peers, by demonstrating 'hacking' ability," Ben-Itzhak wrote. "It could be stealing someone’s game logins. This might seem trivial at first, but online gaming accounts are often connected to credit card details to enable in-game purchases, and these may also have virtual currency accounts amounting to hundreds of dollars. Furthermore, many gamers unfortunately use the same login details for social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, potentially putting the victim at risk of cyber-bullying, in addition to identity theft and major inconvenience."

"The researchers found that many instances of malware targeting games popular with children shared the same characteristics," writes BBC News' Dave Lee. "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."
Designing a Defense for Mobile Apps
Download Now

"In one instance, a program that gathered login details from unsuspecting users of online game Runescape contained code that sent the information back to an email address in Canada," The Telegraph reports. "Researchers traced the email to an 11-year-old boy."

"Now, AVG is saying children must be taught the 'rights and wrongs' of coding by parents and schools, teaching them that using code to cheat or steal from a game is the same as theft," writse redOrbit's Michael Harper.

General purpose computing is a dual use good, programming should be left to government-licensed practitioners.

There is a big difference between downloading malware and making malware.

Goldman

Kike blowing things out of proportion.

General purpose computing aka. the Homo devil machine must be kept away from children

Ghildren as young as 11 have been writing malicious code, according to computer security firm AVG.

The company said it had examined malware that targeted online games popular with children and found errors that experienced hackers were unlikely to make.

In one instance, a program that gathered login details from unsuspecting users of online game Runescape contained code that sent the information back to an email address in Canada. Researchers traced the email to an 11-year-old boy.

"The malware author included in that code the exact email address and password and additional information - more experienced hackers would never put these type of details in malware," Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at AVG, told the BBC.

Mr Ben-Itzhak said most of the malware his company had identified was written in basic programming languages such as Visual Basic and C#.

He said that as children gained skills in computer programming, there was a greater need for educating them about the rights and wrongs of online behaviour, as well as the legal risks involved in hacking.

Mr Ben-Itzhak said: "You teach your children that you can't take a toy without paying - so I think this type of a message needs to get to the kids when they're writing software too."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21371609

http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112780368/hacking-by-children-a-growing-trend-020813/

Most of the code written by these child hackers are simple Trojans written with the .NET framework. These Trojans are not only easy to write, but are also easily deployed through email or social media networks. Essentially, this code is easily written by amateurs and often makes victims out of amateur users.

Goldman
Yuval Ben-Itzhak

At least dekike your fucking names you fucking kikes, that shit's disgusting.

>>6
Fuck off back to /x/, seriously. You're pathetic.

>>7
I don't go to chan6 or whatever that site is. Maybe you should go back there, nigger.

a child hacker that collects information by spreading software with a dishonest interface is rather troubling. 25 years oughta do it.

*slam!

>>1

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.

I already have solution: ban VB and C#.

Jeff Goldman

Shalom!

"Now, AVG is saying children must be taught the 'rights and wrongs' of coding by parents and schools, teaching them that using code to cheat or steal from a game is the same as theft,"

My fucking sides. "Cheating is the same as theft." - This is new.

>>12
About as new as "copying is the same as theft".

>>12
Is forging a lottery ticket theft?

you wouldn't steal a car

This is reminiscent of feminist ideology that posits men should be taught not to rape women so that women never have to worry about their own safety. Sure, teach people not to write malware so people never have to worry about the security of their systems. Ha. Ha.