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The term is also often used as a derogatory moniker for individuals who do not contribute to the development of new security-related programs, especially exploits, but rather benefit from the work of others.

1 Script kiddie scene

From around 1995 on, the widespread use of the Internet in the business and home computer field, and the full disclosure movement's policy of disclosing working exploitation tools has led to an enormous growth of the script kiddie scene.

Script kiddies often act out of boredom, curiosity or a desire to 'play war' on the Internet. There are many organized script kiddie groups, who often meet in anonymous chat channels such as IRC.

Script kiddies are always looking for new exploits which are unknown to the public, and hence particularly effective. Such exploits are leaked from research labs or given to script kiddies by insiders; they are then used to compromise a large number of hosts on the Internet.

Script kiddies are often young, and can evolve into honest programmers later in life.

1 Other usage

The term has spread into other usage. In the world of Information Technology consulting, script kiddie is used as a disparaging term for Visual Basic or

2 See also

• HackerHacker is a term used to describe different types of computer experts. It is also sometimes extended to mean any kind of expert, especially with the connotation of having particularly detailed knowledge or of cleverly circumventing limits. The meaning of
• Cracker