For those who don’t follow DefCon, you’re missing out. A great assemblage of hackers and crackers in both the black hat and white hat variety, you’re almost guaranteed some great stories (not to mention drama).
This year, DefCon thinks of the future with DefCon Kids, their first ever meeting aimed at younger hackers (think Oliver Wendell Jones). Right off the bat, 10-year-old hacker CyFi has pointed out a pretty basic vulnerability in some “farming” games. Sure, it may not be a massive Javascript vulnerability or a PDF exploit, but it is an impressive find, as well as a pretty basic “oopsie” on the programer’s part.
Some out there might be horrified at the idea of kids being encouraged to hack, but the fact of the matter is learning the skills to spot exploits is a heck of a good thing. It encourages creativity, analytical thinking, and just raw programing talent.
Besides, you’d rather they learn about it on the streets, maybe?
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