10-Year-Old Hacker Uncovers Zero-Day Vulnerability On Android, iOS Games
A 10-year-old girl has uncovered a smartphone vulnerability for iOS and Android games. Going by her hacker name @CyFi she discovered a zero-day exploit that has been verified by independent researchers and was recently classified as a vulnerability.
The California resident presented her findings at the DefCon 19 convention, a popular event for hackers from around the world. According to CyFi she was attempting to find a workaround for farm-based games that took too long to progress when she stumbled upon the hack in January.
Speaking to CNET CyFi revealed her motivation for her hack:
“It was hard to make progress in the game, because it took so long for things to grow. So I thought, ‘Why don’t I just change the time?'”
The hack apparently works on various games from developers who have not yet blocked the hack. Some games that have blocked the hack are also still vulnerable when they are disconnected from data connectivity such as WiFi and 3G networks or when only subtle time increments are utilized.
CyFi has not revealed which games at this time are vulnerable, she says her hope is that game developers will fix the issue, creating fair play for all gamers.
So will CyFi be the youngest employee of Facebook or another tech firm? We know how much Mark Zuckerberg loves to pick up game hackers and place them on the company’s payroll, just look at how they legitimized Sony hacker GeoHot after he hacked the PS3. I wonder if they can even legally offer a 10-year-old girl a full-time or consultancy job.
