Stupid Kids. Stupid Admins. Glad I don't live there.
As seen on Slashdot,
13 kids in the Kutztown Area School District are facing felony charges
over their “hacking” of laptops that the school district issued them.
The Slashdot poster, as usual, left out the bit about the extent of the abuse or the first attempts at discipline, but I guess that’s what I’ve come to expect from Slashdot. The real info can be found in the school’s press release and http://www.cutusabreak.org, a site created by the kids to “get the word out.” Also, here’s a Slashdot comment from someone who went to the same school.
Well, as one who has worked in school IT, here’s what I understand:
- The IT department didn’t do their job - the admin password was listed on the laptop itself.
- The kids, by using the above admin password, weren’t very wrong. They were curious. But they were still wrong.
- Some of the passwords were eventually changed, but the kids used password crackers to break back in. This is where the kids entered the realm of really wrong.
- Someone should have told the IT department earlier. Kids, it’s OK to talk to grownups when there’s a problem.
- When the IT department found out, they should have changed the passwords on all laptops as soon as possible.
- The kids were reprimanded, punished, etc., but no one lost their laptop privileges!!! Why!!??
- According to the kids, some even tried to turn in their laptops, but the school wouldn’t let them. Huh???
- The kids claim that it’s the administration’s fault. The computers were too tempting. They were too easy to crack. BAD EXCUSE!
- The administration claims it had done all it could. Reporting the kids to the police was the only recourse. Um, no, they could take away the laptops…
To the kids: I can look past the whole “public password” thing. Once you started cracking passwords, you went too far.
To the administration: If your IT department can’t administer the laptops well enough that kids could “break through” your security as easily as they did, it’s time to look into some changes.
I can understand low budget solutions. We used Windows 98. There wasn’t much security that we could implement if we wanted to. We found ways to deal with that. Oh, and by the way, TAKE AWAY THE LAPTOPS INSTEAD OF FILING CHARGES!!! Can you tell I feel strongly about this!?!?!?
Stupidity all around. Edit: OK. Maybe calling them stupid is a bit harsh. But think, people! Think!
I’m glad I didn’t go there. I’m glad I don’t work there.