Why are cybercriminals getting younger?

17, 19 and 20. Those are the ages of the suspects in both the recent Kido nursery hack and the April attacks that left British retailers Marks & Spencer and The Co-operative with reduced services and millions of pounds down.

The same gang who claimed responsibility for the M&S hack also targeted Jaguar Land Rover in August, halting global production and affecting thousands of businesses who rely on sales to JLR to support their own employees.

In the past, such attacks on industry behemoths were largely carried out by state-sponsored hackers from nations such as Russia or North Korea. But the vast majority of suspects identified in recent high-profile cyberattacks have two things in common: they’re English-speaking, and they’re young.

At a time where our younger generations ...