Teen hackers: How AI is changing the nature of hacking and other fraudulent activities
Jan 9, 2025, 10:36 PM | Updated: 10:36 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — You might think of a hacker as a mysteriously hooded, anti-social computer genius in a dark room cracking cyber security systems open in mere minutes. But artificial intelligence is tearing down that old stereotype.
The average age of people arrested for a crime in the U.S. is 37, according to numbers from the FBI. But when you’re talking about jailed cybercriminals that average age drops way down to 19.
“We think in 2025, there’s going to be a lot more teen hackers out there,” Michael Bruemmer, vice president of Experian’s Data Breach Resolution group and Consumer Protection, said.
In its new study shared with the KSL Investigators, Experian said teens are using AI to help with their hacking along with creating deepfakes and other fraudulent attacks. And they’re getting recruited by hackers based here and abroad.
“Teens are in chat rooms. They’re on the dark web. They’re on gaming platforms,” Bruemmer said. “So, the nation states and the gangs that want to recruit those teens can easily find them.”
Teen hackers certainly aren’t the only ones threatening the cyber security of businesses. In their recent study, accounting giant PwC, or PricewaterhouseCoopers, found that 57% of fraud is committed by company insiders. Adding AI to that mix fuels serious concerns.
“Both the availability of AI and teaching employees how to use it makes it a very dangerous situation because users that have elevated credential access are getting trained on it,” Bruemmer explained. “They could use it for very nefarious purposes.”
Bruemmer says the growth of A-I-driven fraud has more governments and businesses moving toward what’s called dynamic identification.
“Dynamic identification just means that you have a continuous refresh of barcodes QR codes or anything that’s alphanumeric and this prevents unauthorized duplication,” he said.
You’ve maybe already encountered it. Some concert tickets are already using dynamic barcodes. Bruemmer said it’s not too farfetched to expect the same tech to be adopted for things like social security numbers and driver licenses.
“It can’t be hacked. Can’t be shared. And it will protect the user from having it stolen or otherwise used fraudulently,” he said. “256-bit encryption and VPNs (virtual private networks) are not enough with the more elaborate schemes that hackers are proposing. That’s why we say the prediction of this dynamic identification becoming mainstream is something that’s going to happen in the next 12 months.”
One finding that offers a sliver of consolation for consumers is Experian said hackers are increasingly targeting each other either for money or for political reasons.
