Insider threats haunt schools: most cyberattacks are carried out from within

Schools are facing a massive problem. At least half of insider threats are pupils hacking their schools for sport.

In my high school, there were tech-savvy students who might mess around inside the school’s systems, scribble todgers on Microsoft Paint, or unblock access to pornographic websites.

But that was in the 2000s, when kids didn’t have much access to information, or tech for that matter.

Now, kids have far more access to technology and seem to know what to do with it. That’s what the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said in its latest warnings to schools across the UK.

The BBC reports that half of school cyberattacks and data breaches caused by insider threats are done by students who are happily hacking their institutions for fun.

This “worrying trend” comes in the form of dares, where children and teenagers are challenging each other to break into their school’s information systems and obtain unauthorized access to sensitive information.

The ICO has reportedly investigated 215 insider hacks on schools in the UK and found that 57% were carried out by kids.

A third of breaches were done by children who gained unauthorized access to their teacher’s computers by simply guessing passwords or stealing their credentials, the BBC said.

Children as young as seven have been implicated in these types of crimes, with one seven-year-old being referred to the National Crime Agency's Cyber Choices programme.

Another incident involved a small group of teenagers who unlawfully accessed a database that contained the sensitive information of 1,400 people.

These teens supposedly downloaded software from the internet to break through security protocols and compromise passwords.

Hackers are getting younger and younger as more information about cyberattacks and how to carry them out proliferates online.

Inquisitive children are likely to test out different hacking methods, making education surrounding this issue extremely important.

Cybernews previously reported on teen cyber cartels and the things that make teenagers more inclined to pursue a life of cybercrime.

We spoke to John Gunn, CEO of Token, who said that “kids grew up in an online world, and some become proficient in programming and cyber skills well before they reach their teens.”

Teenagers often get into cybercrime for the thrill of breaking into something they shouldn’t have access to and making systems do unintended actions.

There’s also the potential for notoriety in the tight-knit hacking community, where the more you hack, the more popular you become.

This is fuel for teens to hack into their schools, as they get challenges from friends and, when they’re successful, admiration in return. But crimes don’t tend to go unpunished.

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