International Attention for Hack_Right

Hack_Right draws international attention again;  The Daily Swig reports about the coming of age of this program.  Hack_Right is an alternative or additional punishment process. Young people aged 12 to 23 years who are convicted of a cybercrime offense for the first time may qualify for this. The goal of Hack_Right is to prevent recidivism and to further develop the cyber talent of young people, within the framework of the law. The criminal justice chain partners, cybersecurity companies and the hacker community develop and implement the intervention. 

Since its inception, the scheme has developed steadily. Officially still a pilot, the initiative was expanded significantly in November 2019, when 20 companies joined the scheme as partners. Both private companies and public partners from other countries have expressed in te past years their interest in the program. And now there is a very detailed manual to share, with ready to use assignments. International cooperation on offenderprevention is the next step for the Dutch Police. After all, many offenders attack the Netherlands from outside the country. And vise versa. A crime without borders asks for a solution without borders. Public partners and organisations like a.o. Fox-IT, Secura, Qbit, Northwave, S-unit, Access42, DIVD, Zerocopter, ING, deVolksbank, Rabobank, ABN-Amro, and Deloitte are partners for fighting cybercrime together! 

Rising crime
The Dutch public prosecutor reports that each year around 100 young people aged between 12 and 23 are arrested for a cyber-related offence. The true figure could be much higher, however – the authorities estimate it at between 100 and 200 offenders.The focus of Hack_Right is both to discourage cybercrime and encourage young offenders to move to legal activity, such as ethical hacking.

Hack_Right is funded as part of a wider scheme to prevent reoffending, ‘Koers en Kansen’, which translates to ‘courses and chances’. The scheme’s other partners include Halt, a juvenile crime agency, the probation service, and the Child Care and Protection Board.

Tailored approach
So far, 10 young people have joined the programme each year. Although that might not sound many, the Hack_Right scheme is tailored to each offender. Each person joining the scheme is given their own “assignments” to complete. Adding more partners to the programme – especially those from industry – should allow Hack_Right to create more tailored assignments and potentially increase its capacityThe group is now developing a manual for the scheme, which will allow more reuse of the training modules. This should be ready by September. Private sector partners provide tutors and role models as part of the programme.

Read the full article of Daily Swig here