A script kiddie, skiddie, kiddie, or skid is an unskilled individual who uses scripts or programs developed by others, primarily for malicious purposes.
Characteristics
In a Carnegie Mellon report prepared for the U.K. Department of Defense in 2000, script kiddies are defined as
The more immature but unfortunately often just as dangerous exploiter of security lapses on the Internet. The typical script kiddy uses existing and frequently well known and easy-to-find techniques and programs or scripts to search for and exploit weaknesses in other computers on the Internet—often randomly and with little regard or perhaps even understanding of the potentially harmful consequences.
Script kiddies have at their disposal a large number of effective, easily downloadable programs capable of breaching computers and networks.
Script kiddies vandalize websites both for the thrill of it and to increase their reputation among their peers.
Some more malicious script kiddies have used virus toolkits to create and propagate the
Anna Kournikova and
Love Bug
The lovebug (''Plecia nearctica'') is a species of march fly found in parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast. It is also known as the honeymoon fly or double-headed bug. During and after mat ...
viruses.
Script kiddies lack, or are only developing, programming skills sufficient to understand the effects and side effects of their actions. As a result, they leave significant traces which lead to their detection, or directly attack companies which have detection and countermeasures already in place, or in some cases, leave automatic crash reporting turned on.
See also
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Black hat hacker
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Exploit (computer security)
An exploit (from the English verb ''to exploit'', meaning "to use something to one’s own advantage") is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability to cause unintended or unant ...
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Hacker (computer security)
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Hacktivism
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Lamer
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List of convicted computer criminals
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Luser
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Noob
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Web shell, a tool that script kiddies frequently use
References
Further reading
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* ''The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders and Deceivers'' (2005)
External links
Honeynet.org - Know Your Enemy (Essay about script kiddies)preserved at
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
Cracking the Hacker Mindset
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Hacking (computer security)
Computing culture
Pejorative terms for people