A "14 year old" could have targeted the Clinton Campaign?

[JHan]

According to Trump and Assange (gotta hand it to them since the "kid" angle is a really cute way to diminish intent):

These are interesting graphs on the interests of this hypothetical "kid".

From : https://twitter.com/pwnallthethings , https://twitter.com/pwnallthethings/status/816627274367823872

Source for Graphs from SecureWorks: Threat Group-4127 Targets Google Accounts

[HoneyBadger]

1. 14? Try 5

Kristoffer von Hassel is the world's youngest known hacker and notable for being the youngest "security researcher" listed on Microsoft's Security Techcenter as having exposed a security vulnerability. At the age of 5, Hassel exposed security lapses in the Microsoft Live Xbox system, prompting wide media coverage, with some journalists highlighting the dropping age of hackers and their technology mastery.



Hassel is the son of Robert Davies, who works in computer security, and Jill Nyahay. They live in Ocean Beach, California. When the media started covering Hassel in early April 2014, he was enrolled in Kindergarten.

[lapucelle]

4. I can understand why a child would hack Xbox,

but why would a child hack John Podesta or the Clinton campaign?

The tweets don't refute the possibility that 14 year old hackers exist; they question why a teenager would hack these particular people/countries/organizations.

[HoneyBadger]

6. This girl was arrested at 14 for political action

She is no Trump supporter, but I assume that such a thing exists.

http://www.tribecatrib.com/content/kid-conscience-tribeca-childs-ongoing-fight-animal-rights

[lapucelle]

8. Let me get this straight.

The argument is that a 14 year old political hacktivist who hates Hillary Clinton hacked her campaign and then leaked the stolen information to Wikileaks, all the while remaining modestly anonymous.

I like Trump's "man on a bed that weighs 400 pounds" excuse better.

[HoneyBadger]

9. A 14 year old could easily gain the skill set to be a hacker, including anonymity

And there is a hell of a reason why. They would not be prosecuted as an adult. Unlike a lot of other experiences they might enjoy, there is no age bias against them, and a good reason that age works for them, as records of their crimes would be sealed at adulthood.

[lapucelle]

10. No one is disputing whether or not a 14 year old could hack a system.

The question concerns the likelihood that a 14 year old child would hack these particular things.

Employing atypical examples to support a theory almost always immediately renders an argument suspect. The assumptions are, on their face, dubious at best.

I'm aware that in some circles denying that the hack was the work of the Russians bolsters a particular political narrative. I just find it difficult to take highly unlikely alternative explanations seriously.

[JHan]

11. Yep.

It's a bad case of confirmation bias.

[HoneyBadger]

12. These are not atypical examples to me, because I know people like them

That have been fortunate enough not to get their names in the news. The appeal of hacking is not just to further an agenda, often it is just love of hacking. I remember being that age and spending $20 to figure out a way of beating the phone system for a dime. Every white hat hacker in the world started out as something else.

[JHan]

13. None of what you have said refutes information already known.

[lapucelle]

17. So in addition to using atypical examples,

the argument also relies on idiosyncratic, anecdotal, hypothetical evidence. This type of reasoning is inherently flawed, and the narrative they frame is agenda driven. And of course, the outlandish claim that "every x began as y" needs only one exception to implode.

It's pretty obvious why Assange, Trump, and right wing talking heads are obfuscating the situation by employing these tactics. I get it. It confirms their bias. It's their story, and they're sticking to it.

[HoneyBadger]

18. I.e. experience

Try it sometime

[lapucelle]

19. "That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!"

Like I said, I get it. Some people are vested in Trump's version of reality because it serves their agenda.

[ismnotwasm]

5. .

[JHan]

7. You're missing the forest for the trees,

Focusing on age distracts from intent and motive.

No one ever disputed that teen hackers exist. Come on now.

You want to believe that a teenager hacker acted independently (?) instead of believing the assessments of secure works and crowdstrike, and our intelligence agencies which point to russian influence - and there is a history of Russia's cyber warfare tactics in Europe and the Baltics.

There's healthy skepticism and there's denial.

I'm really floored at the willingness to deny this, I could understand waiting for more evidence to come out but trying to discredit information that is already known is something else.

[Cha]

2. The more they freaking protest..

[Generator]

3. 14 is that weirdo Nazi code word too

Coincidence? Who knows. I just learned about that because of scumbag hellion of humanity KKKoulter. It's on another thread.

[Denzil_DC]

14. I gathered together all Pwn All The Things' tweets about this on an earlier thread:

Proof that, contrary to Trump, it's unlikely a random "14-year-old" phished Podesta's email
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028429865

[JHan]

15. Missed your thread, thanks for the alert!

[Denzil_DC]

16. No worries at all.

The more exposure this gets, the better!

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this tweetstorm's been Storified or blogged elsewhere, so that summary's all there appears to be at the moment.