Call the police if these apps are installed, poster reads

Feb 15, 2020 06:48 GMT  ·  By

A poster created by the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit (WMROCU) and also featuring the logo of UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) warns that the kids using software like Tor Browser, Kali Linux, Discover, and Metasploit could be the next-generation hackers.

The warning was published online by Twitter user G_IW and obviously generated an avalanche of reactions from the WWW, many of which criticized the British police for what they consider to be disinformation.

“If you see any of these on their computer, or have ea child you think is hacking, let us know so we can give advice and engage them into positive diversions,” the warning reads.

The software which the police say could be used for bad purposes includes TOR Browser, virtual machines, Kali Linux, WiFi Pineapple, Discord, and Metasploit.

The team behind Kali Linux, a Linux distribution that’s mostly supposed to be used for penetration testing, actually applauded the idea that led to the creation of the poster.

“Have to admit it’s sort of nice they give kids a roadmap on where to get started. We all know the easiest way to get a kid to do something is to tell them they can’t or should not, then they list specific item not to do,” the Kali Linux devs say in a tweet.

Legitimate software

But on the other hand, the NCA says it has nothing to do with the warning, despite its logo showing up on the poster.

“The NCA was not involved in the production or release of this poster. There are many tools which tech-savvy children use, some of which can be used for both legal & illegal purposes, so it is vital that parents & children know how these tools can be used safely,” it says on Twitter.

The West Midlands Police says the whole idea was to highlight some of the tools which have a legitimate purpose but which can very well be used for malicious purposes too.

“The poster - produced by a third party - was created as an aide memoire to assist teachers with safeguarding in schools. It was taken from wider information on cyber tools which could be used to commit cyber attacks, but equally have a legitimate purpose,” a statement reads.

WMROCU, which created the poster in the first place, said in a statement for ZDNet the whole idea was just to raise awareness that such software can be misused despite their legitimate purpose.