DHAKA: A study suggests there are parallels between the way youngsters turn into hackers and how youths become addicted to drugs and alcohol.

The report was written for the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol.

It says that readily available online tools and tutorials make it easy for youth to begin committing cybercrimes.

And it warns that a sense of pleasure derived from the acts might encourage some perpetrators to escalate their attacks.

“[The hormone] dopamine can be released quickly as vulnerable youth achieve frequent and rapid successes online, and if these successes are linked to anti-social acts, such as hacking, they will be reinforced to pursue further ends to obtain their gains,” it states.

“Frameworks of addiction assist with explaining the difficulties in cessation as well as an escalation in deviancy and targeted victimisation.”

The study suggests that educational program developed to tackle substance abuse and smoking could be adapted to help tackle cybercrime.

But the authors are careful not to claim that hackers are necessarily addicts themselves.

“In the [American Psychiatric Association's] last Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, internet addiction did not make it through,” Prof Mary Aiken told the BBC.

“So, therefore hacking is not recognized clinically as an addiction.

“But our research certainly points to certain compulsive and impulsive aspects of the behaviour and certainly it would warrant further investigation as to whether it was addictive.”

For now, Prof Aiken prefers to class hacking as a “cyber-maladaptive behavior”.

The study suggests a large part of the problem is that many youngsters see the internet as a place that is not watched over by guardians.

It says they then encourage each other to carry out more serious acts, helping “normalize” bad behavior.

It suggests “at risk” youngsters spend time with rehabilitated cyber-offenders, and that young people be asked to consider the psychological harm online attacks can cause.

The authors also suggest educators develop new tests to identify which children have the highest potential for technological skills when they are as young as four, so they can be “nurtured and rewarded” for using their talents in ways that benefit society.

BDST: 1001 HRS, OCT 25, 2016
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