Melbourne Teen Pleads Guilty to Hacking Apple Servers and Accessing Customer Accounts [Updated]

[GGJstudios]

yes, but most people assume that security is strong enough that it will take a group of professionals working for sometime to be able to break into a system... not a highschooler with a computer.

That assumes that "professionals" are more knowledgeable and skilled than any "highschooler", which is not necessarily true. Anyone can commit themselves to learning anything, regardless of age.

 

[MacBH928]

That assumes that "professionals" are more knowledgeable and skilled than any "highschooler", which is not necessarily true. Anyone can commit themselves to learning anything, regardless of age.

If that is true, would you let a 15 year old perform a brain surgery on you?
Some knowledge is easier to grasp than others, some needs a long time to consume and comprehend not to mention experience. Computers are complicated enough today that it needs deep understanding.

 

[GGJstudios]

If that is true, would you let a 15 year old perform a brain surgery on you?
Some knowledge is easier to grasp than others, some needs a long time to consume and comprehend not to mention experience. Computers are complicated enough today that it needs deep understanding.

That is completely untrue. Many of the most knowledgeable programmers are quite young. Age is more irrelevant in the technology industry that changes so dramatically in just a few years. For example, I was considered well advanced in my knowledge and experience, programming IBM mainframe computers and operating systems when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were still in high school, yet I couldn’t begin to compare with the knowledge and experience that many 15 to 20-year-olds have today. How else can you explain the average age of programmers being so young today?

 

[MacBH928]

That is completely untrue. Many of the most knowledgeable programmers are quite young. Age is more irrelevant in the technology industry that changes so dramatically in just a few years. For example, I was considered well advanced in my knowledge and experience, programming IBM mainframe computers and operating systems when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were still in high school, yet I couldn’t begin to compare with the knowledge and experience that many 15 to 20-year-olds have today. How else can you explain the average age of programmers being so young today?

There is a difference when you say young, how young? Young as in 28 years old or young as in 12 year old?
If at 28 year old I would believe it because he could have studied since he was 18 up to 28 and thats 10 years of study/work experience. But young at 15 is just impossible to be a security expert at that age, especially that when he started learning at 10 he would be still be excited for cartoons on tv.

I am sorry, but I have a hard time to believe that a child in 5 years time gained more computer knowledge than you did over 40 years of time.

 

[GGJstudios]

But young at 15 is just impossible to be a security expert at that age

This case of a 15 year old hacker disproves your argument.

I am sorry, but I have a hard time to believe that a child in 5 years time gained more computer knowledge than you did over 40 years of time.

With all of the information available on the internet, and with the level of automation and software tools available, it is certainly possible for someone who is motivated to learn enough to hack systems in just a few years. When I started, there was no internet and information was accessible primarily through manuals printed by IBM. There was no Google, no hacker communities, no forums, no social media, no personal computer.... none of today's tools that accelerate learning and collaboration. Even programming has dramatically changed, no longer requiring machine language or the ability to read hexadecimal or binary.

54 6f 64 61 79 27 73 20 79 6f 75 74 68 20 65 76 65 6e 20 68 61 76 65 20 6f 6e 6c 69 6e 65 20 74 6f 6f 6c 73 20 61 76 61 69 6c 61 62 6c 65 20 74 6f 20 62 65 20 61 62 6c 65 20 74 6f 20 71 75 69 63 6b 6c 79 20 63 6f 6e 76 65 72 74 20 74 68 69 73 20 73 74 61 74 65 6d 65 6e 74 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 68 65 78 20 74 6f 20 74 65 78 74 2c 20 77 69 74 68 6f 75 74 20 68 61 76 69 6e 67 20 74 6f 20 6c 65 61 72 6e 20 68 6f 77 20 68 65 78 20 77 6f 72 6b 73 2e

Whether you believe it or not, today's youth have access to vast amounts of information and software tools, as well as to those who would offer mentoring and support. A teenager can certainly acquire advanced knowledge and skills in a very short period of time, given today's environment.

 

[MacBH928]

This case of a 15 year old hacker disproves your argument.

With all of the information available on the internet, and with the level of automation and software tools available, it is certainly possible for someone who is motivated to learn enough to hack systems in just a few years. When I started, there was no internet and information was accessible primarily through manuals printed by IBM. There was no Google, no hacker communities, no forums, no social media, no personal computer.... none of today's tools that accelerate learning and collaboration. Even programming has dramatically changed, no longer requiring machine language or the ability to read hexadecimal or binary.

54 6f 64 61 79 27 73 20 79 6f 75 74 68 20 65 76 65 6e 20 68 61 76 65 20 6f 6e 6c 69 6e 65 20 74 6f 6f 6c 73 20 61 76 61 69 6c 61 62 6c 65 20 74 6f 20 62 65 20 61 62 6c 65 20 74 6f 20 71 75 69 63 6b 6c 79 20 63 6f 6e 76 65 72 74 20 74 68 69 73 20 73 74 61 74 65 6d 65 6e 74 20 66 72 6f 6d 20 68 65 78 20 74 6f 20 74 65 78 74 2c 20 77 69 74 68 6f 75 74 20 68 61 76 69 6e 67 20 74 6f 20 6c 65 61 72 6e 20 68 6f 77 20 68 65 78 20 77 6f 72 6b 73 2e

Whether you believe it or not, today's youth have access to vast amounts of information and software tools, as well as to those who would offer mentoring and support. A teenager can certainly acquire advanced knowledge and skills in a very short period of time, given today's environment.

I agree but I still don't believe a 15 year old can beat the 40 years old who have been doing this as their "area of concentration and expertise", either the security system is old, the system security "experts" are lazy, or that kid knew a bug/vulnerability that was published by was never updates or patched.

 

[gnasher729]

This case of a 15 year old hacker disproves your argument.

You are confusing things. A 15 year old hacker is not a security expert. A 15 year old who whacks an old lady over the head with a hammer is no brain surgeon.

 

[Burningtime]

Quoting the original sourse (The Age):

The purpose was to connect remotely to the company’s internal systems.”
The major international investigation was sparked when Apple contacted the FBI, who passed the allegations on to the AFP.
The AFP found the software that had enabled the hacking had been installed on the teen’s laptop.
Further analysis found that the schoolboy successfully accessed “authorised keys” as part of his offending.
Authorised keys grant log-in access to users and are said to be extremely secure

Does it sound like the teenager simply obtained a password of a regular iCloud user via phishing? Does it?

I was responding to the post saying iCloud wasn't secure. People were talking about the Celeb "hacking" from a few years back where the "hacker" simply guessed people's passwords because idiots like Paris Hilton were using their pets' names as the passwords.

 

[gnasher729]

Secondly, part of Apples privacy and security policy revolves around on-device processing and minimizing data collection. For precisely this reason. If Apple doesn’t HAVE your data, there’s nothing for hackers to collect on Apples servers.

Apple also tries very hard to have no ability to read user's data when that data is stored with Apple. Even if it is stored and available to _you_ if Apple can't read it then hackers can't read it.

 

[GGJstudios]

Further evidence that age is not a barrier to technical understanding or hacking abilities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristoffer_von_Hassel
https://thehackernews.com/2012/09/the-10-most-infamous-student-hackers-of.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/opinion/tap-into-the-gifted-young-hackers.html?_r=0

In some hacking circles, 15 would be considered middle-aged.