In terms of nicknames, script kiddie is the lowest on the totem pole. "Hacker," either white hat (good) or black hat (bad), is the most commonly used term for people who find software vulnerabilities. The term "cracker" applies to those who break into software or Web servers, often with criminal intentions.
THEN COMES SCRIPT KIDDIE, a term that refers to anyone who is not technologically sophisticated enough to understand the Internet vulnerability they are attempting to exploit, who often uses tools created by others.
The term hacker goes back to the early days of computing and has itself changed in meaning from good to bad. Cracker, according to word specialists Logophilia.com, first appeared in the mainstream media in a 1996 Seattle Times article. Although it has been used informally in newsgroups since the mid-1990s, the term script kiddie had its earliest mainstream appearance in the Aug. 7, 1997, edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, according to Logophilia.com. You'll notice none of these definitions refer to age. A cracker could be 13 or 53. Technically, so could a script kiddie.
Still, some recent incidents support the script kiddie stereotype. The individuals who unleashed the Goner worm on the Internet in early December were teenagers who used a worm (or parts of a worm) authored by someone else for their own purposes, ignorant of how it would affect others. They claimed in IRC chats that they did not realize Goner had reached people around the world. Sounds to me like a classic definition of a script kiddie.
Several other well-publicized 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 me about them by posting a TalkBack below.
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.
Do you have a tale of a young programmer doing good? TalkBack to me below!
