back to article Facebook bungs 10-year-old kid $10k to not 'eliminate' Justin Bieber

The record for the youngest security researcher getting paid by Facebook’s bug bounty scheme has been smashed by Jani, a 10-year-old Finnish lad who found a major flaw in Instagram. In February the precocious youth reported the vulnerability, which could be exploited to delete comments from any account on Instagram, which is …

  1. YetAnotherLocksmith Silver badge

    Aw...

    Couldn't he have just done it "because he could"?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    10k...

    We could have all clubbed together from change behind the back of the sofa and easily have come up with more than that to eliminate Bieber.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: 10k...

      Kickstarter?

      1. Simon Harris

        Re: 10k...

        You guys beat me to it!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: 10k...

          Why stop at Beiber? Go for another 10K and eliminate all of facebook.

  3. Likkie

    Re: 10k...

    Kickstarter?

    To kick bieber...

    Made for each other.

  4. Anomalous Croissant
    Thumb Up

    Ten years old?! Kids these days!

  5. Shadow Systems

    Just how bad does it have to be

    when a *ten year old child* can find the bugs in your code?

    There was a tv program "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" or some such. Should we be taking all your code & running it past a child to check it for flaws?

    If the child finds any, does that mean we give him your job & send your lame arse back to school?

    Sheesh. I've heard of "Script Kiddies" but this one learned on *Youtube* FFS, so you KNOW the bug had to be particularly glaring.

    1. Seajay#

      Re: Just how bad does it have to be

      This doesn't tell you that a ten year-old is smarter than facebook. It tells you that finding a bug is easier than writing bug free code.

      1. MonkeyCee

        Re: Just how bad does it have to be

        Yes, and it tells you that anything a child is *really* interested in, they can spend not only more time but more mental energy than most adults on this. Thus should be better. See many computer games ;)

        Since this includes outwitting their doddery caregivers (speaking as a sprog keeper) I'd welcome their attention being placed on something where this attention to detail also translated into some real world skills.

        Most 10-12 year olds are smarter than anyone 16-25. Sharp minds have little people, and harder to fool.

        They;d rule the world, apart from teenage hormones. One set of problems for another :)

        1. Simon Harris

          Re: Just how bad does it have to be

          Maybe we should put this kid onto fixing the F-35.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Just how bad does it have to be

            "Maybe we should put this kid onto fixing the F-35"

            In 10 years time we most likely will, should he be so inclined.

            (Ethics might get in the way.)

        2. RedCardinal

          Re: Just how bad does it have to be

          >>Sharp minds have little people, and harder to fool

          Is this a Yoda saying? :P

          1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
            Joke

            Re: Just how bad does it have to be

            @ RedCardinal

            Is this a Yoda saying? :P

            Little people, sharp minds have, to fool harder.

    2. Doctor Evil

      Re: Just how bad does it have to be

      @Shadow Systems:"Sheesh. I've heard of 'Script Kiddies' but this one learned on *Youtube* FFS, so you KNOW the bug had to be particularly glaring."

      and

      @Seajay#: "This doesn't tell you that a ten year-old is smarter than facebook. It tells you that finding a bug is easier than writing bug free code."

      Yeah, well, nobody else found it before he did, so kudos to the kid.

      1. Seajay#

        Re: Just how bad does it have to be

        @Doctor evil

        kudos to the kid.

        Hell yes. I didn't mean to take anything away from his achievement. That's pretty extraordinary for a 10 year old (assuming his dad didn't do it and pass on the credit). All I meant was that this story doesn't tell us "Oh noes Facebook security is terrible, it's worse than it would be if we let a 10-year-old do it". It just tells us that security is hard.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just how bad does it have to be @Shadow Systems

      >so you KNOW the bug had to be particularly glaring

      Can't you just accept that the kid is smarter than you.

  6. Ted Treen

    Really?

    "He attributed this to its excellent school system, fast and cheap internet connections, and long, cold, dark Finnish winters."

    No mention of a plentiful supply of pizza delivery services, and Moms having cellars, then.

  7. d3vy

    Hmm... He found it with his brother... How old is the brother?

    And how much did he help?

    Not knocking it, still a great achievement but is it being sensatioalised a bit and skipping some info for the sake of a good headline?

    1. koswix

      I imagine that, like most twins, his brother is more or less the same age.

      Still, I bet it was the dad wot dun it. He's giving the kids the credit in order to exploit the chatshow network.

      1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

        "He's giving the kids the credit in order to exploit the chatshow network."

        This is Finland we are talking about here.. Finns don't talk for no good reason, I can assure you.

    2. BlackDuke07
      Facepalm

      Well, it says "his twin brother"... so I'm just guessing here, but I would say he is probably the same age +/- 10 minutes.

  8. gollux
    Mushroom

    There is no justice

    That should have gone up for auction with the highest bidder getting the choice of thumbs up or down and all the money put into some worthy charity. Canadians by now probably would have snapped it up to end the embarrassment and sent it permanently to the eternal bit bin.

  9. Thaumaturge

    From my perspective...

    I would say that NOT being able to delete Justin Bieber was far more serious than the ability to.

    But that's just my opinion.

  10. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A kid of 10 could do it

      Careful.

      You could end up on a watch list typing that!

    2. Tom 7

      Re: A kid of 10 could do it

      One of the things about not knowing a lot about computers and programming is you can take them by surprise as you wont be programmed into thinking 'this works like this so I'll try this'. I was at my most destructive when beginning in the field - simply because I'd try things that no-one else would dream of.

      I got better once I worked out an even better way was to just throw random shit at a program and see how it behaves. Not so easy to do that on the internet as people think you're DDOSing them or something and you cant test something that refuses to talk to you.

      Its not to hard to do it in house though - a bit of python and a walk around your web pages with a cupful of beautifulSoup* and a few random numbers and you'd be surprised how much havoc you can wreak.

      But get someone who doesnt know how GET and all that shit work and dont laugh at their ideas - try em and watch your development web site disintegrate!

  11. Mark 85
    Unhappy

    Well... +100 for being able to delete Bieber. -1000 for not doing it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Cut him some slack, 10 year olds haven't fully developed their tastes quite yet. I had to just slowly nod when mine told me he liked Justin.. Then steer him gently in other musical directions.

  12. Ole Juul

    tactics

    He should have hit up Bieber first, and then Facebook. Now it's too late.

    Reminds me of Hägar the Horrible telling his men "next time, pillage ... then burn.

  13. Winkypop Silver badge
    Holmes

    10 year old

    What are the minimum ages for an Instagram and Facebook account?

    13?

    1. Chris King
      Childcatcher

      Re: 10 year old

      13 years old, and that's down to COPPA.

      Not that anyone seems to be enforcing it, if YouTube comments are anything to go by. (Obligatory XKCD)

    2. tfewster
      Facepalm

      Re: 10 year old

      Define "age": Chronological, emotional or intellectual?

  14. DavCrav

    "Mickos, who is also Finnish... attributed this to its excellent school system, fast and cheap internet connections, and long, cold, dark Finnish winters."

    I, who am a mathematician, would start by attributing it to the Poisson distribution, before seeing whether this other stuff makes one jot of difference. (A school system obviously does, but beyond a certain level I claim not a significant difference.)

    1. Jimbo 6
      Pint

      I, who am an inveterate party animal, would start by attributing it to beer being around 50 quid for a thimbleful in Suomi.

      You'd need a second mortgage for one of these > > > >

  15. chivo243 Silver badge

    I'd kick in

    another 10grand just to eliminate that little twerp from the web... and the kartrashians etc...

    1. Natasha Live
      Paris Hilton

      Re: I'd kick in

      Isn't 10k merely the bill for the kardashia's makeup?

      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Coat

        Re: I'd kick in

        Nah. That won't even buy the platinum trowel it's applied with.

  16. Allan George Dyer
    Boffin

    Finnish technology leaders...

    You missed Tatu Ylönen, who wrote the SSH protocol.

  17. Harvey Trowell
    Headmaster

    Did you mean punching?

    Pulling above its weight makes Finland sound like a nation of chubby chasers.

  18. foo_bar_baz
    Headmaster

    Poor kid

    The poor lad is about to get a life lesson when he receives a multi-kiloeuro tax bill, inevitable now thanks to the publicity.

  19. Joerg

    Marketing b*ll .. the genius little kid myth...

    This is all marketing b*ll.

    There is no 10 years hacker cracking servers in the world.

    Just urban myths created by the marketing dept guys.

    This is just once again another silly story spread on the 'net by the marketing people.

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: Marketing b*ll .. the genius little kid myth...

      "There is no 10 years hacker cracking servers in the world"

      Because all servers are bulletproof and built on granit-solid fundations?

      Yes, you so must be right..

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