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posted by janrinok on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the kids-will-be-kids dept.

Kids won't stop launching DDoS attacks against their schools:

The cybercrime unit of the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) is stepping up a program designed to educate children about the ramifications of DDoS attacks.

As explained in a post on the NCA website, the initiative is informed by recent research that suggests kids as young as nine are guilty of launching DDoS attacks against their school networks, websites and other services.

According to the report, the volume of such attacks has risen sharply during the pandemic, presumably causing disruption to online learning activities.

The Cyber Choices campaign identifies potential offenders by tracking searches associated with cybercrime made by kids on school computers. These mischief-makers are presented with an alert warning against criminal activity and funnelled towards the Cyber Choices website, which hosts a range of educational materials.

The initiative has been undergoing a small-scale trial for a number of months, and early data suggests this type of intervention can significantly reduce the volume of DDoS-related searches in schools.

Off the back of this early success, the initiative will now go live in upwards of 2,000 primary and secondary schools, before rolling out to a wider range of institutions up and down the UK. The hope is to divert youngsters away from cybercriminal activity by increasing awareness of the Computer Misuse Act and the consequences of cybercrime.


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  • (Score: 1, Touché) by fustakrakich on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:29PM (29 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:29PM (#1215699) Journal

    Hammer on them until they can control their offspring

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:56PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:56PM (#1215706)

      Aren't they slaving away in the coal mines, er, uh, what does the UK make these days?

      IOW, who has time to watch their kids? There are bills to pay...

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:44PM (1 child)

        by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:44PM (#1215815) Journal

        This is why my wife is a stay at home mom. She always wanted to be and I've made sure she can do it.

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:45PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:45PM (#1215844) Journal

          Same.

          We're probably not the only ones.

          --
          The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:07PM (7 children)

      by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:07PM (#1215710)

      Why not hire half the kids to defend the school against DDoS attacks? Better yet, make it an official team sport! Students can:

      • work together to defeat a rival school
      • help afterwards to clean up the damage
      • learn a valuable current and upcoming skill to eventually defend their school country from a rival one

      As Ronald Reagan said: "Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." Well, kids are moving and they're trying to defend themselves by applying penalties (and maybe education). It doesn't show any signs of moving, so you might as well regulate it, per a familiar, formalized set of sports-style rules.

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by EvilSS on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:33PM (3 children)

        by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:33PM (#1215717)

        Why not hire half the kids to defend the school against DDoS attacks?

        Because the kids how a DDOS attack actually works, nor how to defend against one. They are just buying booter/"IP Stresser" (aka DDOS as a Service) time from some random site probably hosted out of eastern Europe.

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:48AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:48AM (#1215730)

          All the competent staff who could mitigate such a problem were shooed out of the education (and software, for that matter) industry by pedo-Jewish communists and other freaks of nature. Even public schools' main role for the past 20 years, babysitting the fuckup kids of illiterate minorities, can't happen because since the Jewish staff took over the schools they are too lazy to even show up to work -- unless of course it's to vaccinate Goyim and enrich their fellow Jews while killing off the Goys.

          Getting paid to do nothing and activism against your host society are both proud Jewish traditions, and now that they own the schools and their unions, they are free to do so at all levels. What I'm seeing locally in the nicer neighborhoods is that groups of parents are essentially creating their own schools, paying teachers handsomely to do actual fucking teaching to neighborhood groups of kids. Which is a pretty fucking good model, actually, as the student groups already know each other and there are no illegal Mexicans or violent Tyrones dragging the classes down.

          Jewish communists are all about collectivism, as long as it's their kind of collectivism, which is dragging the smart kids down with the fuckups. Can't have too many smart White and Asian kids posing a threat to the Jews, after all!

        • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday January 27 2022, @12:19AM (1 child)

          by krishnoid (1156) on Thursday January 27 2022, @12:19AM (#1215993)

          They don't know the rules of team sports, either. That's at least part of the point, to educate the next generation on cyber-"sports" offense and defense.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @02:16AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @02:16AM (#1216019)
            Do you hire them to play in the NFL then? Big difference between hiring them for a job (that is what you proposed) and educating them.
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:39PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:39PM (#1215719)

        I like that idea. After all, poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids!

        • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:48PM (1 child)

          by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:48PM (#1215817) Journal

          . . . white kids can be poor too, you know . . . the inverse of that is also true.

          --
          Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @06:13PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @06:13PM (#1215877)

            It's a Brandon quote.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:12PM (16 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:12PM (#1215712) Journal
      As someone you might know said [soylentnews.org]:

      Which is bullshit. The idea is absurd. I do not care. The actor is the bad guy, not the speaker. Information doesn't pull the trigger or swing the machete. The person does. Censorship is always evil.

      The actor is the bad guy, not the parents. They didn't pull the trigger or swing the machete.

      • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by fustakrakich on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:41PM (15 children)

        by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:41PM (#1215722) Journal

        Is your world made of straw?

        --
        La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:17AM (14 children)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:17AM (#1215749) Journal

          Is your world made of straw?

          I think rather your world is made of a lot of cognitive dissonance. It always stuck in my craw that you excused great evil back then (coordinating the Rwanda genocide) merely because it used broadcast radio rather than runners with notes through some bizarre interpretation of freedom of speech.

          Here, there's an opposite blanket condemnation of parents merely because children misbehaved (which looks to me to be partly a protest against authoritarian school systems). Why should parents be any more responsible for the behavior of their children, than the coordinators of the Rwanda genocide be responsible for the actions of the killers following their orders?

          What's the consistent criteria you're using?

          • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by fustakrakich on Wednesday January 26 2022, @05:23AM (9 children)

            by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @05:23AM (#1215762) Journal

            :-) Like you, children suffer from diminished capacity, can't be held responsible. I can cut you some slack for the same reason

            --
            La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 26 2022, @04:06PM (7 children)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 26 2022, @04:06PM (#1215852) Journal
              Funny how you can't put up a real argument. That indicates where the "diminished capacity" lies.
              • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday January 26 2022, @09:01PM (6 children)

                by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @09:01PM (#1215928) Journal

                Like our regular punitive moderators, you present nothing to argue. When a child below the age of legal consent commits an offense, you go to the parents

                --
                La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 29 2022, @01:35PM (5 children)

                  by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 29 2022, @01:35PM (#1216691) Journal

                  Like our regular punitive moderators

                  Your problem not mine.

                  When a child below the age of legal consent commits an offense, you go to the parents

                  Just like when an organization uses radios to organize mass murder, you go after everyone who contributed?

                  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday January 29 2022, @09:01PM (4 children)

                    by fustakrakich (6150) on Saturday January 29 2022, @09:01PM (#1216781) Journal

                    Just like when an organization uses radios to organize mass murder, you go after everyone who contributed?

                    Nope, not even close, you go after the people that acted, they are adults that can choose for themselves

                    --
                    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 30 2022, @04:58AM (3 children)

                      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 30 2022, @04:58AM (#1216874) Journal
                      Using radios is an action that killed a lot of people in Rwanda.
                      • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday January 30 2022, @05:24AM (2 children)

                        by fustakrakich (6150) on Sunday January 30 2022, @05:24AM (#1216878) Journal

                        Really? How did that work? they had implants that put them under remote control?

                        --
                        La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday January 30 2022, @05:38AM (1 child)

                          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 30 2022, @05:38AM (#1216882) Journal
                          The usual way - they followed orders.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @08:56PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @08:56PM (#1215926)

              Oooo, all the downmods! Somebody's mad.. Must be angry parents, screaming, *Not my little angel!*

          • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:53PM (3 children)

            by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:53PM (#1215819) Journal

            By definition, parents are responsible for the behavior of their children. In the event the parent doesn't care that their child is outside using a 22 rifle to shoot at the neighbor's windows. The parents should be held accountable. Sure, DDOSing the school isn't that, but by the same rule, the parents are responsible. In the event that you can't or can't be bothered to control your kids, then be willing to accept the consequences.

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:33PM (1 child)

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:33PM (#1215835) Journal
              By definition of what? The definitions of parent say nothing of responsibility.

              In the event the parent doesn't care that their child is outside using a 22 rifle to shoot at the neighbor's windows.

              Where's the proof of apathy? Where's the equivalent harm to a broken window? My take is that the low priority that the school gives to fixing such problems indicates the low harm of the act.

              And a DDoS on a school is not as easy to understand as a broken window. How do we again expect parents to stop things they don't understand?

              • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 26 2022, @09:09PM

                by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @09:09PM (#1215929) Journal

                The definitions by law, expect a parent to be responsible for their kid. A parent has legal authority over their child and with it all of the legal responsibilities. Thus, it's in the parents' best interests to train their child in such a way that they won't do something supremely stupid and illegal. Such as shooting out the neighbors' windows with a 22 rifle.

                --
                Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @05:25PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @05:25PM (#1216199)

              Let me guess you are also pro-life?

              That is, parents need to be held accountable for their children's actions because they are parents, also parenthood will be mandatory.

    • (Score: 2) by istartedi on Wednesday January 26 2022, @01:42AM

      by istartedi (123) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @01:42AM (#1215734) Journal

      Or better yet, tell all the other parents to flood them with texts, emails, and phone messages about what lousy parents they are.

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:29PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:29PM (#1215700)

    When I was a youngster, if we tried to DDoS our school we lost mainframe privileges for a week.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by BsAtHome on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:46PM (1 child)

      by BsAtHome (889) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:46PM (#1215704)

      So, you crashed the big iron(*) whenever the whole class ran the same (badly written) program simultaneously one the mainframe as part of the current assignment? Today the pupils agree to go to the same page at the same time and hit reload for some time. That is such brave behavior. It matches the teen spirit. Good for them. I too have hit my part of reload and encouraged my pupils to do the same.

      Next thing these pupils will do is DDoS the books on the tables. And DDoS the pencils. Such tragedy.

      (*) Yes, we did this too. Also create brother-sister processes checking each other and not easy kill-able on the old *nix box.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by gznork26 on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:35AM

        by gznork26 (1159) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:35AM (#1215729) Homepage Journal

        Not at school, but I did bring the mainframe at work to its knees by submitting a job that submitted a copy of itself before exiting. It was like gnats in the jobs queue. The operator called to ask what he could do, because he hadn't thought of the obvious: stop the queue and clear it out.

        --
        Khipu were Turing complete.
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Revek on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:57PM (1 child)

      by Revek (5022) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:57PM (#1215707)

      No mudding for week. Horrible, I hope you learned not to get caught.

      --
      This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @01:40PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @01:40PM (#1215807)

        Use someone else's account and sh before telnet so the connection address is hidden. You deny my my text based rpg? bwhahahaha

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:03PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:03PM (#1215709)

      When I was a youngster, our school ran Windows, and DDoSed itself.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:29PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:29PM (#1215715)

        computers in school, unheard of. in my day it was old fashioned asking the teacher questions all at the same time! had to wait for assemblies to affect the whole school at once.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:32PM (1 child)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:32PM (#1215716)

    of what we did as kids: trigger the fire alarm, stick chewing gum in the main hall door's lock... you know, anything to skip class - or, for some kids, to enact payback for this or that they felt the school had done to them.

    What resulted usually was a reprimand, or perhaps being expelled for a week, complete with a dressing down from the director, followed by a really, really bad time with our parents back home. The DDOSing kids today though... they'd better be careful, because nowadays even low-grade computer "crime" like this is a felony, involving the corps, a day in court and the whole nine yards, even if the kids are just kids and don't understand the nature of the police state yet.

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:16PM

      by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:16PM (#1215825) Journal

      To a certain extent that may be true, but most kids won't get in that much trouble. In the event that you're 16, 17, or 18 years old, you should be a lot more careful. 15 or younger, probably not so much to worry about. Still, getting 40 year sentences for "low-level computer crime" is stupid. Things need to be fixed, but likely won't until we get much more technically savvy law makers and Justices.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
  • (Score: 4, Funny) by oldeschool on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:40PM

    by oldeschool (4414) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:40PM (#1215720)

    After all don't copy that floppy completely ended software piracy

  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:42PM (1 child)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:42PM (#1215723)

    FFS, if your IT folks haven't learned after the first attack, nor the second, after the third I'd think about sacking the IT department and, no, not hiring the pre-pubesent teenagers. But I would hire competent IT folks, not those volunteer folks who figured out how to set up a home network and volunteered to admin your network.

    Ooops my bad. That would cost $$$, which, well, who cares if some above average kid raises his grade a point or two?

    --
    When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:01AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:01AM (#1215725)

      Oh, they're not hiring volunteers. They're hiring Microsoft Certified Professional Windows-Watchers.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:44PM (9 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:44PM (#1215724) Journal

    When my boys were in school, someone called in a bomb scare. I spent a couple very worried days, wondering if my kids had any part in it. Was very relieved to learn that my kids were innocent. The guilty party is still just as much an idiot today. I wish we could send him to Australia, but that doesn't seem to be an option. Mars could work, but that's still a few years away.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:58AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:58AM (#1215731)

      Tell us you're a domestic terrorist without saying you're a domestic terrorist.

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:26AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @02:26AM (#1215742)

      > ... wondering if my kids had any part in it.

      Let me guess, you were worried because you thought your kids were following in your footsteps.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:05PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:05PM (#1215793)

      america was convict destination before australia you know.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @12:33PM (#1215798)

        'Muricans came from other countries besides England you know - and it's probably safe to say that most came voluntarily

      • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:26PM (2 children)

        by Freeman (732) on Wednesday January 26 2022, @03:26PM (#1215830) Journal

        At the beginning it was mostly convicts and those fleeing religious persecution. Before the American Revolution, people were coming here just for the opportunity. England setup a penal Colony on the continent of Australia, right after the loss of the newly formed United States of America.

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @02:15AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @02:15AM (#1216018)

          yes upward of 50k convicts to america, a quarter of brittish migrants. will grant you are right that post revolution it was more like 160k shipped downunder instead. of course far outstripped by the 10m africans shipped to new world, but of course they had only lifetime commercial, not term based legal constraint, so not really "convicts".

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @05:31PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 27 2022, @05:31PM (#1216200)

          The French were big on sending convicts to the new world.

          They went to the prisons and offered a new life and a prostitute/wife for anyone willing to move to Louisiana.

          No, I don't know how the whole "giving a prostitute as a wife" to people thing worked. I'm guessing that women had even fewer rights back then than we imagine.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @01:42PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @01:42PM (#1215808)

      what do you think of the hammer to the wrists approach? reoffense tends to be very low

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @06:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26 2022, @06:24PM (#1215879)

        I think Islam was really into amputating body parts for various offenses. The hammer might be a better deterrent than a sword. A clean cut will heal up pretty nicely, and eventually stop hurting so much. The hammer will just mash and break stuff up, and more than likely hurt for the rest of the offender's life.

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