Warning signs of cyber crime according to UK National Crime Agency
nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk
nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk
That said, this webpage is dangerous and misleading for a lot of reasons, but I'll try to focus on the problems that are actionable:
1. The "warning signs" the article enumerates are almost certainly not significantly correlated with youth who commit cyber crimes. In other words, the warning signs are probably just some made up bullshit someone with arbitrary biases came up with and put online. (Even if it accurately describes every youth convicted of cyber crime, that still doesn't mean that it's remotely likely to be correlated with cyber crime.)
In my mind, there's no material difference between teenagers who bully geeks and the author of this article -- both are identifying people who are different from them and then bullying them for being different. The only difference is that the author of this article has fooled themselves into thinking they have a justifiable excuse for painting with a broad brush.
2. The focus on computer security in the alternatives is misplaced. Especially considering the "warning signs". Far better to find the kid some bright mentors who match them intellectually in any field than to focus arbitrarily on computers -- much less computer security! A socially isolated student who's teaching themselves to program is not likely to do much more than roll their eyes if you explain to them that they could spend their life configuring firewalls and installing AV.
A lot of people in the security industry would not even consider "configuring firewalls and installing AV" to be security work, in most organizations that rests with the sysadmins and network engineers, who also have a varied and challenging field.
Basically, my advice is to scrap what the article suggests and instead prefer "intellectually stimulating" to "related to security" when diverting a bright child's interests. It's often easy to find something sufficiently intellectually stimulating if you don't focus on security. Also, something related to security isn't necessarily at all intellectually stimulating (again, please don't flip my quantifier...).
> I object to your dismissal of my industry as "configuring firewalls and installing AV".
This wasn't my intention. FTR I respect security professionals and IT folk of all stripes.
But there are boring jobs in every indsutry.
My observation is only that diverting a student to the nearest person whose job has anything to do with "cyber security" is not likely to end with that student showing up at a security research lab. Similarly, I think it's a laughably bad idea to try to get a kid who is already checking out of school to prep for something like a CREST certification exam.
> Certainly the security industry is not for everyone
This was more my other point.
I doubt that most students who are interested in computers and who are also acting out using computers are necessarily interested in computer security. I think that assuming this fundamentally misunderstands/conflates two very different things going on in the student's life -- their interest in computers/science/technology, and anti-social behavior.
> A lot of people in the security industry would not even consider "configuring firewalls and installing AV" to be security work
Unfortunately most of the teachers/parents reading that webpage are unlikely to know the difference.
* Is your child spending all of their time online?
* Are they interested in coding? Do they have independent learning material on computing?
* Do they have irregular sleeping patterns?
* Do they get an income from their online activities, do you know why and how?
* Are they resistant when asked what they do online?
* Do they use the full data allowance on the home broadband?
* Have they become more socially isolated?At least quote the rest so you don't misrepresent what they're saying.
This article is extremely dangerous.
EDIT: And when I say "footnote", I mean that more generically, not just with it being literally below the content. People don't read linearly, and will almost certainly read the bulletpoints before they read the text around it.
* Has your son asked you to change ISPs?
* Are you finding programs on your computer that you don't remember installing?
* Has your child asked for new hardware?
* Does your child read hacking manuals?
* How much time does your child spend using the computer each day?
* Does your son use Quake?
* Is your son becoming argumentative and surly in his social behaviour?
* Is your son obsessed with "Lunix"?
* Has your son radically changed his appearance?
* Is your son struggling academically?
Popular hacker software includes ... "Flash"
The list now reads:
* Are they resistant when asked what they do online?
* Do they get an income from their online activities, do you know why and how?
* Is your child spending all of their time online?
* Do they have irregular sleeping patterns?
* Have they become more socially isolated?Does your child make porn online?
"We know that simply criminalising young people cannot be the solution to this and so the campaign seeks to help motivate children to use their skills more positively."
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/dec/08/average-ag...
But hey, keep buying into the crap about the average cyber criminal being your typical 'geek' or gamer type.
As government takes up more and more resources and provides less and less value, it also falls out of touch with reality, and then we get to this point...
Is 'cyber' actually used by technically competent folk now? It's been cropping up alot with the 'cyber' crime, 'cyber' attacks happening in 'cyber' space recently, needing improved 'cyber' security skills.
Usually the term's reserved for either mass-media outlets, or people trying to scare you.
The media has misused it so much, that much of the information security world (With the exception of pentesters from what I've seen) seems to have given up trying to use the proper terminology. They still seem to be trying to recover the term "hacker", though.
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/03/cyborgs-cyberspac...
It seems like cyber is generally used for online badness (cybercrime, cyberwar) while the e- prefix is used for online goodness (e-mail, e-sports, e-commerce)
I once kept a list of every cyber-* I heard at an industry conference with the idea of making Conference Cyberbingo. Notable entries included "cybertactics," "cyberstrategy," "cyberthreat".
For some reason, both of these terms make me grate my teeth!
I imagine it has something to do with only hearing "cyber" being used by people who are woefully out of date, and "Infomation Security" by people who are actually marketers that can use a computer...
No. Some are just presenting normal teenage behaviours.