What do companies like Uber, Rockstar Games and Microsoft have in common? They’re all noteworthy names that suffered hacks from today’s smoothest of criminals: teenagers. As the digital economy grows, digital crime will inevitably grow with it. But for defensive cyber teams struggling to keep up, it might be time for a “takes one to know one” approach. As the younger generation continues to succeed in disrupting massive operations, the cyber workforce might stand to gain from enlisting this age group to improve overall defenses and tap their hacking expertise for good.
Not only did companies get hacked by younger demographics, but they also couldn’t retain the in-house talent looking to stop them. Nearly 50 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021 in a seemingly unprecedented mass workforce exit known as the “Great Resignation.” From pandemic upheaval to low pay and lack of opportunities to go up the career advancement ladder, many professionals recently rethought their relationship to the labor market. Though the economy remains strong, and employers across the board created 263,000 jobs as of December 2022, massive layoffs have affected the tech sector across heavy hitters like Meta, Amazon, Twitter and Google.