Nationality American Occupation Student | Name Kristoffer Hassel | |
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Parent(s) Robert Davies and Jill Nyahay | ||
5 year old kristoffer von hassel exposes microsoft xbox vulnerability finds back door into accounts
Kristoffer von Hassel is the world's youngest known hacker and notable for being the youngest "security researcher" listed on Microsoft's Security Techcenter as having exposed a security vulnerability. At the age of 5, Hassel exposed security lapses in the Microsoft Live Xbox system, prompting wide media coverage, with some journalists highlighting the dropping age of hackers and their technology mastery.
Contents
- 5 year old kristoffer von hassel exposes microsoft xbox vulnerability finds back door into accounts
- Xbox security childs play as five year old hacks dads account
- Personal life
- Title
- References
Xbox security child's play as five-year-old hacks dad's account
Personal life
Hassel is the son of Robert Davies, who works in computer security, and Jill Nyahay. They live in Ocean Beach, California. When the media started covering Hassel in early April 2014, he was enrolled in Kindergarten. Microsoft responded “We’re always listening to our customers and thank them for bringing issues to our attention. We take security seriously at Xbox and fixed the issue as soon as we learned about it.” They also provided Hassel with a free year-long subscription to Microsoft Live Gold, four video games and $50USD.
On its website, Microsoft has listed Hassel as one of its Security Researchers, of whom he is the youngest. Of the people listed on the page as security researchers, he has been called "the most unusual but perhaps the most significant".
Davies has stated that Hassel had also learned "three or four other hacks" by the age of five, including how to bypass smartphone screen locks.
Title
Hassel has been identified as the world's youngest hacker, beating out others who have also been quite young. The Huffington Post has reported on "teenage tech geniuses" and The New York Times has stated "in some hacking circles, 15 would be considered middle aged." They continue to say that the age for hacking, coding, and tech adaptability continues to drop.