Ten-Year-Old Hacker Reveals Mobile Gaming Exploit at Defcon

[Xannieros]

Sure, changing the system cock to cheat at games is a really old trick.

But this 10-year old girl came up with the trick independently of anyone else. That's gotta be worth some kudos and shows she's a smart kid with some good potential.

Not quite sure if it warrant's any praise.. Many people do those sort of things by themselves. Heck I figured it out with Fable 2 and Animal Crossing without looking up any sort of guide. I see this up there with finding the secret levels as a kid in Mario games. Not too special.

This sort of trick isn't what I'd call hacking either.

 

[fanklok]

I was too busy rewriting the experience values you got from quests in Soulbringer (that game that came with Planescape: Torment) so I could hit max level 5 minutes into the game. I think I win.

 

[samsonguy920]

I have a bunch of respect for the kid. Her knowledge is revolutionary for her age group. What really makes me shake my head is this:

CyFi's mother said that following her daughter's presentation, identity protection company AllClear ID [the folks contracted by Sony to provide a year of free identity theft protection to PSN customers] would offer a $100 reward to the "young hacker" who discovered the most games vulnerable to the exploit in a 24-hour period. Isn't that just the sweetest thing ever?

PSN clients? I hope you aren't letting your guard down.

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

Wow, clock acceleration. because that hasn't happened before. /sarcasm

ALOT of games have had this bug (rather then exploit), it's just so happened she thought of a simple logic "what if it cant connect"

I'll give her credit for thinking logically at only 10 though.

 

[Rawne1980]

While it is impressive doing that at 10 year old she needs to lose those sunglasses.

Not only are they stupidly large and daft looking only 2 kinds of people wear sunglasses inside ..... blind people and idiots.

Other than that, well done lass.

 

[ImprovizoR]

Actually, 10 year old kids are more likely to think outside the box than older people. Their creativity is still unharmed. It's not really that surprising that she found that exploit at her age. When I was 10, I build my first LED lamp and I did awesome stuff with magnets and electronics. But as you get older you have more responsibilities, and most of your interests have to be put aside, limiting your creativity.