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In my middle school you could just x out of the Windows NT login window and get a userless session. We didn't understand that we hadn't hacked anything, and ne

In my middle school you could just x out of the Windows NT login window and get a userless session. We didn't understand that we hadn't hacked anything, and neither did our teachers. Their misplaced awe at our ability to cloak our activities in anonymity was intoxicating. Most of my cohort then are engineers now. I worry that as security gets better, opportunities for creativity and exploration go away, which might not bode well for future generations.

tester756 5y ago
Don't worry If you're into real world security / reverse engineering and other stuff, then try CTFs, other strong people will ensure that you'll have enough room for creativity and hacky hacks :)
grawprog 5y ago
In university, for some strange reason, we were required to spend a few hours in a 'learn how to use a search engine class.' It was brutal, they used remote control software and slowly and painfully taught us how to use google. I figured out pretty quickly you could Ctrl-alt-delete to bring up the task manager and just close the client on the computer I was using. The teacher never figured out why one of the computers vanished off the remote software management screen she was using.
- mvolfik 5y ago
  wasn't it 'SmartClass' by any chance? I also had a lot of fun killing it during high school
nogridbag 5y ago
Yeah I also got a bit too creative in middle and high school. It was all harmless fun, e.g. writing scripts so that various computers would start beeping at random times during the day. None of my school faculty had any understanding of computers. I was even yelled at for using "Google" during a research project. I think the bigger fear is that people cannot make mistakes anymore. Even in my local town a simple mistake went viral on social media and now the student's whole life is ruined for something that may have been a simple visit to the principle's office back in the day.
twox2 5y ago
It's a moving target. The opportunities for kids to get creative and explore are now in emerging technologies, but they are "emerging" only to us old farts. To young people, it's just what's there. I think these things come easy to the inquisitive minds that are not tainted by what you can and can't. For example, I often read bug bounty write-ups, many of which are obviously written by young teenagers. Some of them are able to find issues that appear to be hiding in plain site. I kind of think that what you're describing is a matter of perspective, but boy do I miss the good old days when everything was easy to exploit.
liketochill 5y ago
I did a school project where I dos’d a local ISP for 10 seconds using broadcast amplifiers on misconfigured routers that allowed the source address to be spoofed. I was probably 15? The isp I think only had a T3 but most people were still on dial up so overwhelming a T3 seemed like a big deal. I miss having shell accounts at all the .edu’s for my egg drop bots. That is how I learned about all the us schools hah
jamal-kumar 5y ago
I think about this alot too. Tons of the current tutorials on learning how to break windows security teach you on an old windows 7 VM just to make it easy to get around mitigations and learn without hindrance. I mean I know I learned on windows XP VMs... but what happens when Microsoft rescinds offering those free windows 7 IE11 VMs any arbitrary time soon? On the other hand I like how Microsoft actually seems to be giving a damn these days.
- HelixEndeavor 5y ago
  Giving a damn about what? Windows 11 hasn't even launched yet and it's already a dumpster fire with TPM requirements and refusing outright to run on any CPU older than 2018.
rainonmoon 5y ago
Security gets better, but a) the attack surfaces grow larger and b) so do the educational resources. I'm constantly in awe of how much easier it is to learn this stuff these days, with concise and articulate walkthroughs alongside dedicated vulnerable VMs you can spin up in a minute. If you ever want to spend a weekend experiencing that rush again, TryHackMe.com's Advent of Cyber will have you popping reverse shells in an hour or two.
golergka 5y ago
Wait. Is it the trick with the Help window, that had Open file dialog, that had Open folder in the context menu, which essentially launched explorer process and effectively logged you into the system? It was almost 20 years ago and I still remember. Such a satisfying feeling when you're 14 but feel smarter than one of the biggest tech companies on the planet.

tester756 5y ago

Don't worry If you're into real world security / reverse engineering and other stuff, then try CTFs, other strong people will ensure that you'll have enough room for creativity and hacky hacks :)

grawprog 5y ago

In university, for some strange reason, we were required to spend a few hours in a 'learn how to use a search engine class.' It was brutal, they used remote control software and slowly and painfully taught us how to use google. I figured out pretty quickly you could Ctrl-alt-delete to bring up the task manager and just close the client on the computer I was using. The teacher never figured out why one of the computers vanished off the remote software management screen she was using.

mvolfik 5y ago
wasn't it 'SmartClass' by any chance? I also had a lot of fun killing it during high school

nogridbag 5y ago

Yeah I also got a bit too creative in middle and high school. It was all harmless fun, e.g. writing scripts so that various computers would start beeping at random times during the day. None of my school faculty had any understanding of computers. I was even yelled at for using "Google" during a research project. I think the bigger fear is that people cannot make mistakes anymore. Even in my local town a simple mistake went viral on social media and now the student's whole life is ruined for something that may have been a simple visit to the principle's office back in the day.

twox2 5y ago

It's a moving target. The opportunities for kids to get creative and explore are now in emerging technologies, but they are "emerging" only to us old farts. To young people, it's just what's there. I think these things come easy to the inquisitive minds that are not tainted by what you can and can't. For example, I often read bug bounty write-ups, many of which are obviously written by young teenagers. Some of them are able to find issues that appear to be hiding in plain site. I kind of think that what you're describing is a matter of perspective, but boy do I miss the good old days when everything was easy to exploit.

liketochill 5y ago

I did a school project where I dos’d a local ISP for 10 seconds using broadcast amplifiers on misconfigured routers that allowed the source address to be spoofed. I was probably 15? The isp I think only had a T3 but most people were still on dial up so overwhelming a T3 seemed like a big deal. I miss having shell accounts at all the .edu’s for my egg drop bots. That is how I learned about all the us schools hah

jamal-kumar 5y ago

I think about this alot too. Tons of the current tutorials on learning how to break windows security teach you on an old windows 7 VM just to make it easy to get around mitigations and learn without hindrance. I mean I know I learned on windows XP VMs... but what happens when Microsoft rescinds offering those free windows 7 IE11 VMs any arbitrary time soon? On the other hand I like how Microsoft actually seems to be giving a damn these days.

HelixEndeavor 5y ago
Giving a damn about what? Windows 11 hasn't even launched yet and it's already a dumpster fire with TPM requirements and refusing outright to run on any CPU older than 2018.

rainonmoon 5y ago

Security gets better, but a) the attack surfaces grow larger and b) so do the educational resources. I'm constantly in awe of how much easier it is to learn this stuff these days, with concise and articulate walkthroughs alongside dedicated vulnerable VMs you can spin up in a minute. If you ever want to spend a weekend experiencing that rush again, TryHackMe.com's Advent of Cyber will have you popping reverse shells in an hour or two.

golergka 5y ago

Wait. Is it the trick with the Help window, that had Open file dialog, that had Open folder in the context menu, which essentially launched explorer process and effectively logged you into the system? It was almost 20 years ago and I still remember. Such a satisfying feeling when you're 14 but feel smarter than one of the biggest tech companies on the planet.