KIDDIOT

(KID.ee.uht)

n.

A young, malicious hacker who isn't smart enough or skilled enough to create custom hacking software, so must rely on programs created by other people. Also:kidiot.

"Rarely found in IT-related jobs, 'kiddiots' download hacking tools and run basic attacks to gain credence among their peers."

— Paul Allen, "Information culture is in need of development,"Network News, September 19, 2001

Microsoft is also painfully aware of the consequences of public disclosure of exploits as thousands of scriptkidiotsattack vulnerable systems.

—"Unix Security,"Carole Fennelly, SunWorld, October 1, 2000

Today's term — a blend ofkiddieandidiot— is synonymous with the older phrasescript kiddie.In fact,kiddiotseems to have arisen as a shortened form of the phrasescriptkiddiot, although the latter is more often seen asscriptkidiot, as the earliest citation demonstrates.

For the record, here's an even earlier usage, although the sense is completely different:

Maybe people have given up trying to keep companies from exploiting kids.

After all, long ago, Saturday morning 'kidiot' cartoon shows became open season on tiny (future) consumers.

— Ernest Tucker, "Song Deal Is Juicy for McDonald's,"Chicago Sun-Times, July 6, 1993

billion laughs

cracker

dark-side hacker

griefer

hacktivist

packet monkey

packet sniffer

parachute kids

patriot hacker

samurai

script kiddie

spyware

war dialing

white hat hacker

Hacking and Hackers