With great power comes great responsibility: children taking interest in IT but…

On the 21st October, TalkTalk released a statement that they were a part of a cyber attack where details of millions of customers may be at risk. Information such as the names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, telephone numbers, TalkTalk account information and even credit card details and/or bank details were all at risk.

This is the third time that TalkTalk have been a target in a cyber attack.

After investigating this cyber attack, police have arrested four people in connection with the attacks, two of which were teenagers. A 15 year old boy from Northern Ireland and a 16 year old boy from West London 

This isn’t the first time that a child has been involved in hacking. Betsy Davies, a seven year old primary schooler managed to hack laptops connected to open Wi-Fi networks. This however was done in a controlled environment to replicate open Wi-Fi networks found on high streets. It took Betsy only 10 minutes and 54 seconds to not only learn how to set up a rouge access point – frequently used by attackers to activate what is known as a ‘man in the middle’ attack but to access information on laptop traffic.

What is incredible and scary is that an issue that can cripple companies and put the details of the public at risk is shaping up to be something a child can access. However, It is great to see that children are taking an interest in IT and bodes well for the future of the industry. If this interest increases and more children take an interest in IT, the skills shortage in the cyber security could diminish. Let's just hope that children use this interest for good.