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UK's Top Police Warn That Modding Games May Turn Kids into Hackers (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the topsy-turvy-world dept.

Joseph Cox, writing for Motherboard: Last week at EGX, the UK's biggest games event, attendees got a chance to play upcoming blockbusters like Battlefield 1, FIFA 17, and Gears of War 4. But budding gamers may also have spotted a slightly more unusual sight: a booth run by the National Crime Agency (NCA), the UK's leading law enforcement agency. Over the last few years, the NCA has attempted to reach out to technologically savvy young people in different ways. EGX was the first time it's pitched up to a gaming convention; the NCA said it wanted to educate young people with an interest in computers and suggested that those who mod online games in order to cheat may eventually progress to using low level cybercrime services like DDoS-for-hire and could use steering in the right direction. "The games industry can help us reach young people and educate them on lawful use of cyber skills," Richard Jones, head of the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit's 'Prevent' team, told Motherboard in an email. "Through attendance at EGX and various other activities, we are seeking to promote ethical hacking or penetration testing, as well as other lawful uses of an interest in computers to young people," Jones said.

7 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Valuable skills by WarJolt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So why aren't they teaching game modding in high school?

    1. Re:Valuable skills by gnick · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Learning tech skills and becoming a "hacker" doesn't seem negative at all to me until it's coupled with "low level cybercrime." I think a better summary of this "study" is:

      Cheaters may later become law breakers.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    2. Re:Valuable skills by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Given the MPs we have a better slogan would be: "Cheaters may later become law makers".

  2. In other news by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    bad education is turning our cops into blathering idiots.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  3. Clickbait? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds really clickbaitey.

    "Modding Games May Turn Kids into Hackers" is a very different statement than "those who mod online games in order to cheat may eventually progress to using low level cybercrime services like DDoS-for-hire".

  4. Modding != Cheating/Hacking by PrescriptionWarning · · Score: 5, Informative

    The term "Mod" is abused here, when I think of a mod I think of something that is a positive effect on a game. Someone who is doing something to cheat in an online game is referred to as a hacker or cheater, not a modder.

  5. Re:Hacking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll leave this here:

    https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html