Hacker culture - only for millenials?

As a late millennial, I’ve finally grown old enough to judge the younger generation. Just like our parents complained about our generation, I too shall complain about the younger generation, the zoomers (gen Z) but I’ll mainly keep to aspects related to my field of work - information security.

I think the millennial generation was fortunate enough to be born at the same time as the internet and grow up with it. I’d extend that to computing in general. Many of the systems available in the 80s and 90s were upgradeable and customizable to a much larger degree compared to modern hardware. The internet was a decentralised wild west, where you’d have hundreds of BBSes and later forums focused on specific interests. Not so much now where 90% of internet traffic is focused on a handful of websites. There was a sense of exploration and curiosity. Both hardware and software were simpler and one could start tweaking with them in order to get more performance or make them do some cool stuff.

Another aspect is that there were more low hanging fruits. Before traffic was encrypted, you could sniff network traffic for plaintext passwords and do man-in-the-middle attacks without much trouble. Software security wasn’t taken seriously at all - just go check Microsoft’s reaction to BackOrifice. Even with a fairly basic level of knowledge (a.k.a. a script kiddie) you could do some of the above mentioned cool stuff, be it using a bluebox to get free calls or LOIC to DDoS someone. Works, trojans and RATs made national news and the computer was this magical realm that the hacker ruled over.

The lack of freely accessible internet or mobile/smart phones also meant hacker groups were more local. The Cult of the Dead Cow and 2600 started as local groups where people would meet in person to discuss, trade and experiment. That made the experience more personal and kept people more involved. I’m not saying internet based hacker groups can’t exist (lulzsec existed), but they tend to be less organised than the physical ones.

Back to my original point and the lack of that old school hacker culture in today’s youth. I don’t think there’s something inherently wrong or different with the kids, but rather with their environment. Tech nowadays is bloated, hard to tinker with, or it’s been simplified and enclosed so much that you can’t even conceive the idea of changing it (Apple mobile devices). The laws are more strict, the punishments are more severe and more arbitrarily applied, which makes the endeavour that much risky. At the same time, with the bloat and rising complexity of software, you must go that much further to reach the point of doing cool stuff. Even 10 years ago, having the OSCP was a real badge of honour. While it’s still widely recognized today, it’s been essentially downgraded to an intro to pen testing certification.