Why do school punish us for hacking?

[d1screet]

oh boy cryptic message time!

2Edgy4Me

[Blade of Grass]

To echo what others have said, because it's illegal.

 

But to be honest, I think that's a poor answer.

 

The real reason why is because the people in charge and make decisions about what's legal and illegal are (most likely) not tech savvy. They don't understand how most of it works, so they rely on these strict rules forbidding any of this scary 'computer hacking', regardless if it's actually helpful. Now, there's pros and cons to this. Pro: It's terribly hard to discern someones motives, so instead of having to worry about what their intention was, you make it so you don't have to by banning any and all hacking activity. Con: it's stymies progress. Obviously, if the person had good intentions (to help improve security) and they report a vulnerability and instead of praising them for helping with security you punish them, you're just going to open your system up to vulnerabilities which could have been pointed out and solved by a white hat hacker, but instead are found and exploited by a black hat hacker.

And then there is the ego issue (mostly about vindictive IT people), especially if it's work related, because the last thing they want to do is look bad because some random person was able to get through their security. 

 

Now, even with all of what I said, I think you should be punished. I do think the punishment that was given was a bit harsh, especially because what you did was minor, but you did exploit the issue for personal gain. Now, had you just told the school about the issue and not exploit it and you still got in trouble, well, then I would say that's unfair.

 

Finally, if they're not fixing the issue, it's most likely because of the last part of my explanation, some IT guy doesn't want to admit he made a mistake and it was exploited by a kid. 

[Trik'Stari]

Partially because what you did is illegal, and partially because public schools aren't there to ensure the population consists of intelligent people, they're there to make sure the dregs of society know just enough to be able to say "would you like fries with that?", and anyone who wants to be more has to literally fight their way through a broken system, designed to ensure you fail.

[Guest]

I said two things. one I can't say on this site so I'll hint at the other one. he got beat up by a couple high schoolers and I made a comment about how defenseless he was then and how defenseless he is now

Oh that'll do it

[mrswagbhinav]

Oh that'll do it

I think he went overboard. He's black too so idk why he's acting like that

[Trik'Stari]

I think he went overboard. He's black too so idk why he's acting like that

Because that's exactly how a bureaucrat reacts when someone points out that they aren't qualified for their position and or don't know what the hell they're doing, or that they're just lazy and cheap.

[Guest]

I think he went overboard. He's black too so idk why he's acting like that

That would explain the no technology for the rest of school. At least you didn't go to prison (or jail if you're lucky).

[mrswagbhinav]

Because that's exactly how a bureaucrat reacts when someone points out that they aren't qualified for their position and or don't know what the hell they're doing, or that they're just lazy and cheap.

Believe or not even though we have one of the worst staff in the country our school is one of the best in the state

[Ertman]

Depending on the school, they could have rules in place that could lead to expulsion.

[hawthorne]

Hack them more and black mail them. 

[Builder]

I think he went overboard. He's black too so idk why he's acting like that

What the fuck does being black have to do with it?

[mrswagbhinav]

What the fuck does being black have to do with it?

All the other black people in the school (including other teachers) would curse back at me and not react like that. Yes I too wonder how my school is in the top 25.

[Nexxus]

Yay for racial generalizations.

[d1screet]

We're probably going to see a post in the near future by this kid: "Why don't people like me?"

[mrswagbhinav]

We're probably going to see a post in the near future by this kid: "Why don't people like me?"

Already have one and have a couple for dating advice and how to spice up your sex life.

[mrswagbhinav]

Yay for racial generalizations.

my school district in one sentence ^

[Castdeath97]

you deserve it for being a idiot. don't tell people when you've done something wrong. NEWSFLASH: that's how they find out

Actually he is supposed to tell people when he does something wrong. But, the responsible people so that you can get forgiven, not you run of the mill dumb student.

[mrswagbhinav]

Actually he is supposed to tell people when he does something wrong. But, the responsible people so that you can get forgiven, not you run of the mill dumb student.

Yes the fact that the run of the mill dumb student middle schooler can hack into the school's WiFi means something doesn't it

[Castdeath97]

Yes the fact that the run of the mill dumb student middle schooler can hack into the school's WiFi means something doesn't it

You misunderstood my comment, I was taking about who to consult not you.

[XYrZbest]

I was desperate for internet (no data plan) after the school shut down their guest WiFi so I brought my laptop so school and bypassed their WiFi passcode using Linux. So the school found out but I only told three people who may have told others. I told the school administrators that same day but they already knew and  now I'm facing a two day suspension, lunch detention for the rest of the school year (15 days), and no use of technology for the rest of my time in the school. (till 6/21/16) So why should I get punished for this, I understand that it is illegal and wrong but I pointed out major flaws in their security and companies like Facebook reward users for hacking into their sites. What's your take on this and tell me if I deserved it lel 

you probably deserve it, if it was for the education of learning about cyber security I could see you going to the tech department and saying you might want to secure it a bit more, but honestly how did you even do that??? I thought most networks like that were pretty secure

[XYrZbest]

admin access and internet passwords are different, nobody gives a shit about one and the other is illegal

one is difficult and one isn't

[Dabombinable]

I did a similar thing when I was at school, except I notified the IT techs asap, and showed them how easily it was to crash the school network (after school finished for the day-because otherwise it would have been destructive). less than 5min and and none of the 500+ computers connected to the network could be accessed by the user.

[XYrZbest]

I was desperate for internet (no data plan) after the school shut down their guest WiFi so I brought my laptop so school and bypassed their WiFi passcode using Linux. So the school found out but I only told three people who may have told others. I told the school administrators that same day but they already knew and  now I'm facing a two day suspension, lunch detention for the rest of the school year (15 days), and no use of technology for the rest of my time in the school. (till 6/21/16) So why should I get punished for this, I understand that it is illegal and wrong but I pointed out major flaws in their security and companies like Facebook reward users for hacking into their sites. What's your take on this and tell me if I deserved it lel 

OH you didn't use aircrack did you...

[d1screet]

you probably deserve it, if it was for the education of learning about cyber security I could see you going to the tech department and saying you might want to secure it a bit more, but honestly how did you even do that??? I thought most networks like that were pretty secure

Not to mention the fact that the kid did it just so he could get internet access, and then tries to spin it off as this altruistic purpose that he should be rewarded for as opposed to being punished.

[mrswagbhinav]

Not to mention the fact that the kid did it just so he could get internet access, and then tries to spin it off as this altruistic purpose that he should be rewarded for as opposed to being punished.

I acknowledged my mistake and accept my punishment so calm down unless you're post farming