Re: [school-discuss] Students "hacking"

[Michael Hamblin <michaelh@utdallas.edu>]

On Thu, 25 Apr 2002, Kyle Hutson wrote:

> I'm inclined to let him know that I've seen what he's doing and offer
> to help him if he really wants to learn to hack - introduce him to
> linux and some Perl and C (I'm quite positive he's never used anything
> but Win9x). Is this wise? On one hand, if he doesn't get caught, I
> would hate to be responsible for enabling another 5kr1p7 k1dd13. On
> the other, he could become one anyway. Anybody dealt with this issue
> before? Any sage advice?

Hey folks, I figured I'd turn off "lurk mode" ;)

As far as his interest in hacking, what you are looking for is "positive
reinforcement" :) Instead of going the "hacker" route, you can emphasis
internet security and "protecting our turf" as a more productive
endeavor. Most hackers thrive on the appeal of "hidden knowledge", and
properly done security has a systematic approach to intrusion prevention,
etc, so there is, well, a lot of everything, as opposed to the hacker's
toolbox of a little of this and that.

Of course, this advice comes from someone who used to hack Novell networks
and now does Unix administration at a University ;) One of my former
supervisors encouraged me to go the security route, quite successfully.

---
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