Decoding How Kids Get Into Hacking – Eurasia Review

s your kid obsessed with video games and hanging out with
questionable friends? These are common traits for involvement in
cybercrime, among other delinquencies. New research from Michigan State
University identified characteristics and gender-specific behaviors in
kids that could lead them to become juvenile hackers.

“We know much about the scope of hacking and its threat, but the
problem is that we don’t know exactly when and how hacking behavior
starts,” said Thomas Holt, lead author and MSU cybercrime expert in the
School of Criminal Justice. “There is a general understanding that
hacking starts in the early teens but until now, we weren’t clear on
background factors, such as behavioral issues, the impact of social
connections or personality traits. Our findings pointed us in the
direction of thinking that there are gendered pathways to hacking.”

Holt assessed responses from 50,000 teens from around the world to determine predictors of hacking. The findings, published in Crime & Delinquency, are the first to dig into gendered differences from a global data set.

“We found that predictors of juvenile delinquency, like low
self-control – so, not having the ability to hold back when opportunity
presents itself – are big factors for computer hacking for both boys and
girls,” Holt said. “But for girls, peer associations mattered more. If
she has friends who shoplift or engage in petty forms of crime, she’s
more likely to be influenced to hack as well. For boys, we found that
time spent watching TV or playing computer games were associated with
hacking.”

Holt explained that the stark differences between boys and girls
were quite distinct, reinforcing the idea that girls get into hacking in
ways that greatly differed from boys. He said that some of the findings
play to how kids are raised within gender roles, such as letting boys
play video games and giving girls different activities.

For boys and girls, simply having opportunities to hack were significant in starting such behavior.

This could include having their own bedroom, their own computer
or the freedom of doing what they want on the internet without parental
supervision.

While most schools have computer and internet access, Holt explained
that there are still some geographic barriers for kids to enter
cybercrime. The researchers found that kids who had mobile phone access
early on were more likely to hack – especially if they lived in larger
cities. Spending time with peers was more likely to influence delinquent
behavior for those living in smaller cities. The researchers also found
a connection between pirating movies and music and hacking.

In the 1980s and 1990s, juvenile hacking was mostly limited to
gaming purposes, and even now most initial cybercrime isn’t serious,
such as getting into Facebook or email accounts, Holt said.

“The initial attempts might not be serious, but without supervision
and low self-control, it’s likely they got a taste for what they might
be able to accomplish by taking their hacking abilities further,” Holt
said. “And while low self-control plays a huge role with kids and teens,
some of them mature as they age and can sit for hours, which gives them
time to refine the skills of a sophisticated hacker.”

It’s important for parents to understand their kids’ tech-savviness
and habits to help guide them on a path that uses their skills in a more
positive way.

“Parents shouldn’t assume that having a kid with sophisticated
technological competency is always totally fine,” Holt said. “Finding
others in the field – like those you’d meet in a robotics club or
attending something like the DefCon conference – is vital for kids to
learn about using their skills in a positive way and for staving off bad
behaviors,” Holt said. “Cybercrime can be a hidden problem, so talking
is vital. The more you can understand what they’re doing, the easier you
can flag something that might be off and curtail activity.”

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