Dealing with a 7 year old computer hacker

Over a recent weekend we had our 7 year old Granddaughter stay over.  All of my kids have been around computers since they were old enough to sit at a keyboard (41, 39 & 34). So it stands to reason my Grandchildren would follow suit. My Granddaughter is now 7 and has been around computers at a younger age than her Parents and Aunt and Uncle. Children today take to the Tablets like ducks to water. When I went to purchase my iPad she tagged along like her Father did when I went to purchase my first computer (Commodore 64). As I was talking to the sales person she was showing her Grandmother how to use the android tablets on display. I also want to say that we are empty nesters so the computer systems in the house are not locked down like fort knox (well they will be before my Granddaughters next visit)

So we fast forward to this past weekend. When she comes over she usually takes a seat at the family computer and watches Disney Channel. But like any seven year old she has the attention span of a fly, going from the PC to the Wii to her grandmothers iPod and then the iPad. We recently upgraded my wifes phone to an iPhone 5 so now that was added to her arsenal. So much so it was the first time I had to charge the ipad, iPod and the new iPhone.

My daughter (her Aunt) was also home for the weekend and had her laptop on the dining room table doing work. So far nothing going wrong. Then I hear from the dining room some giggling and the words “hello? Hello?”. I get up to check and the site was gone so I ask what was going on and she tells me where she was. It seems her live in Aunt (who is 17) goes to this site called prankdial.com. So now I have to have an Internet security talk and explanation of how although the site is on the Internet it is not a good site. (Make mental note it is time to put together that web filter you have been putting off). Then i grab the new iPhone and double check I turned off in app purchases. Although she says “I know I can’t get that game because it doesn’t say free.”.

The next morning I head out to a Coaching clinic very early in the AM but see my iPhone is unplugged. I figure she could do no harm but I see in the message area a text from my son (her father) “Put Grandpa's phone down”. When I get home later I ask what she did and here she was on the iPad and had sent a message to her Uncle and Dad through the iPad. I didn’t even know you could do that as my iPad is WiFi only. Then i was wondering how the heck did she even know their numbers. Well another thing I didn’t know was that since the iPad and my iPhone both use the same iTunes account on my PC on my login that when I have been syncing the iPad and IPhone to the PC it has been syncing the contacts. (Time to learn more about the Apple equipment I own). This sparked another conversation with the youngster.

 

The kicker for the weekend was how she got onto her Aunt’s laptop on the dining room table. My Daughter went to bed and left the laptop on. She figured it was okay but like me she figured what can go wrong, you need to know the password to get onto the laptop. As it is a personal laptop that stays at home or comes her my Daughter figured how strong does the password need to be. Wrong the 7 year old hacker got up before anyone else, got tired of the iPad, couldn’t find the iPod, knew not to touch GrandPops device (she learns quick what gets Grandpop mad) and goes to the laptop. I find out the following when I interrogate her again. She encountered the password screen and tries her Aunt’s name. No good. She then tried her Aunt’s pets name, no good. She then sees that Windows asks if you want a hint, she clicks yes and she reads the hint and on the second attempt she actually spelled the name correctly even with the case and punctuation.  In her words she says “it was simple, people always use either their birthday, pets name or their boyfriends name for their password.” So I started calling her Kevin but no one in the house got the pun.

After this I had to contact her Father and make sure he sat her down and explained some boundaries to her and other people in the house.  I am not saying she is some savant or Mensa. i believe it is the current age of children today and what they are exposed to. They have computers and tablets in school. Your Smartphones have more firepower than most of the equipment us greybeards learned on and you give the smartphone to the kid to keep them quiet while out to dinner or in the car. Some are quicker than others but the bottom line is never underestimate the power of a seven year old. Also if a seven year old ever asks to use your phone you better check your facebook account when you get it back.