Ten-year-old hacker discovers exploits in Android and iOS games

A 10-year-old hacker, participating in the youth program at the Defcon hackers meeting, has revealed a security hole in Android and iOS games. The exploit is available if the internal clock is manipulated.

The young hacker, who operates under the alias CyFi, was annoyed by the long wait times for FarmVille-like games, so reports the BBC. The teenager then started playing with the internal clock of a mobile phone. By switching off WiFi, among other things, the security mechanisms of such simulation games could be circumvented. Also increasing the time in small steps would not be detected.

These manipulations with the internal clock would have made a number of games for Android and iOS vulnerable. Which games exactly can be attacked, CyFi still leaves in the middle. The hacker wants to give the developers the chance to close the gap in time.

CyFi made its reveal on Defcon Kids, a new youth program that’s part of the regular Defcon hacker gathering. The discovery of the vulnerability by the ten-year-old has since been confirmed by independent security researchers and is reminiscent of ‘hacks’ that were carried out on PC software in the 1980s and 1990s, for example to extend trial periods. However, mobile operating systems still appear to be susceptible to this technique.