When I was in high schooltime , approximately a million year ago , my booster Matt start in trouble with The Law . Inspired by moving-picture show like 1983’sWar Games , he used hisCommodore computerto hack into a governing connection . He ended up with a sleeping room full of FBI federal agent who , uncalled-for to say , took his computer by and grouch him severely .
Matt ’s exploits gave him a dashing felon shine , although none of us really knew anything about computers at that point . And in the eld to come , many movies laud the impudent kidskin ’s triumph over cockamamy , stupid grownup who did n’t really make out how to use figurer .
risible , then , to see realism mirror art in the dawn paper the other twenty-four hour period . The Associated Press rana storyabout the “ Kutztown 13 , ” a group of Pennsylvania teenagers charged with felonies for using their school - issued Apple iBooks to circumvent security measures measures and access code veto programs ( iChat ) , music , and Web situation .
Whether these Thomas Kid “ deserved ” the punishment they receive is one thing . I ’m interested in the technical item of this debate .
For newbie , this hardly sounds like hacking to me . According to the students ’ Web site , Cutusabreak.org , the executive password (
Sure , there ’s the matter of setting up the computers ’ substance abuser accounts more securely , but for appetiser the technical mass could have simply create a better password ( 50Trexler is the school ’s address ) and kept it in a locked draftsman . You do n’t have to be a genius to make a good countersign . helper is build into the OS . Take a quick trip to Keychain Access ( in Applications / Utilities ) , choice File : New Keychain , enter a test name in the Save As sphere , dawn on Create , and select the key icon next to the Password field . Password Assistant will generate a password up to 31 characters long . you could use the Type pop - up menu to choose from Memorable , Letters & Numbers , Random or even FIPS-81 ( a Union encryption standard ) Compliant . That ’s it . ( For more info about securing meshwork , check out Mac Security : Fact and Fiction and The Keychain ’s Hidden Powers . )
It ’s great that school are giving kids computers , but you ’d think by now administrator would realize that computer security is n’t shaver ’s play . It ’s been 23 old age since my friend Matt got in bother ; has n’t anybody learned anything since then ?
