Oof. I just learned that the admin of BreachForums arrested last year was a kid who lived less than a mile from me. Kid was clearly talented and it is a shame that he went towards crime.
I thank my lucky stars every day that a teacher in my high school took me under his wing and helped me channel my curiosity and rebellion into productive, lawful activities (maintaining a website and mail server for the local school district, breaking into linksys routers in order to fix them and save the school district money rather than nefarious reasons, etc). Others in my high school friend group were not so lucky.
I’m not sure a person’s moral compass really starts to get solidified until their early 20s and what keeps younger folks from veering off is their community. It has to be more than just their parents, who teens have a natural tendency to rebel against. Teachers, librarians, neighbors, coaches, etc, are so important. I’m sorry all of those people failed this kid.
Heck, I wish I would have met him. Maybe I could have helped prevent this? Pretty sure he got started before I moved here, but who knows.
I guess the question is: What do I do now? How can I help prevent other bright kids like him interested in tech from going this direction? Do I reach out to the local high school and run a web development course (that is what helped me back then)?
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