# 10-Year-Old Hacker Finds Flaws in Video Games



## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

From Fox News:



> And you thought you hated Farmville?
> A 10-year-old girl, reportedly bored with farm-style video games such as the wildly popular game Farmville, has uncovered a security flaw in mobile video games, CNET reported.
> "It was hard to make progress in the game, because it took so long for things to grow. So I thought, 'Why don't I just change the time?'" the girl, who goes by the hacker name CyFi, told CNET. Doing so revealed a flaw in how the game operates: By manually advancing the clock on a phone or tablet computer to accelerate, say, the growth of a stalk of corn, she jumped ahead in the game, opening up a hole in its security.
> Many games will detect and block this kind of manipulation, CNET reported; CyFi said she had discovered some ways around those blocks however.
> CNET did not reveal the girl's name in order to protect her identity, other than to reveal that she was a state-ranked downhill skier, a Girl Scout, and somewhat nervous about public speaking. AFP reported that CyFi is the daughter of a pair of hackers, frequent attendees of the popular DefCon hacker conference that has run annually since 1993.


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## JACKIEGAGA (Dec 11, 2006)

I guess her parents taught her well


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Pretty sure, she did follow parent's hints ... The media will blow it huge regardless of *real* facts.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

P Smith said:


> Pretty sure, she did follow parent's hints ... The media will blow it huge regardless (of) real facts.


... as opposed to fake facts? AFAIK, most facts tend to be real.


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## Kevin F (May 9, 2010)

This is kind of old news though. My kids told me about this back when they played animal crossing on the Nintendo GameCube


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