Teenage tech stories
Each month, Tech for Good speaks to one teenage entrepreneur about their incredible achievements in the world of tech, and how they’re contributing to making the world a better place.
Name: Reuben Paul
Age: 15
Born: Austin, Texas
Achievements: At age seven, Reuben became the youngest person in America to earn the Shaolin-Do black belt. But he has many other accomplishments under his belt, including the founding and running of non-profit organisation CyberShaolin. As a “child hacker” and cybersecurity expert, Reuben has delivered keynote speeches at over 25 conferences in 11 countries on the importance of teaching children cybersecurity skills.
From a very young age, I was curious about how code works and I started learning about basic programming principles.
My dad used to train and speak in cybersecurity conferences, and so when I was seven years old, I asked him if I could speak at a hacker conference. He said: “Apply to one and if you get selected, you can speak.” With the help of my parents, I applied to DerbyCon and was selected.
When I was eight, I gave my debut talk “InfoSec from the mouth of Babes (or an 8-year-old)” and was encouraged by many hackers and security professionals. Today, God has blessed me to deliver keynote speeches in over 25 conferences in 11 countries.
When I started speaking in more and more security conferences, kids from around the world started to write to me and asked me how they can be like me and learn about cybersecurity. This is what inspired me to create CyberShaolin, a non-profit organisation that has the mission to teach how one can be safe and secure in the cyberworld.
All the educational material I develop with my family is free and available for anyone to learn online. Today we have over 3000 students from around the world learning cybersecurity topics with hands-on labs that they can do online.
My dad and I are 3rd degree Shaolin Kung-Fu black belts, my brother Ittai is a blue belt and my mum is a yellow belt. Combining my interest in cybersecurity and Shaolin Kung-Fu is how we came up with the name CyberShaolin.
The future is cyber. Technology is evolving and kids are going to be living in a digital age.
If children learn how to be safe in the cyberworld today, they will be prepared to make wise cyber decisions and keep themselves and their friends and family safe in the cyber world.
My goal for CyberShaolin is for it to become the one-stop destination to learn and get educated about the dangers and defences of cybersecurity. We are now a small family team and finding time to make my goal real is challenging, but with donations and volunteers, I believe we will be successful.
I want kids to know the three ‘don’ts’ of cybersecurity — Don’t Talk, Don’t Take, Don’t Trust. “Don’t Talk” means that you don’t give out too much information online. “Don’t Take” means that you don’t click on links because you wanted to get something for free. Just as there is no free lunch in the real world, there is no free lunch in the cyber world. And finally, “Don’t Trust”, meaning ‘don’t trust any cyber strangers’, for you do not know who is good or bad behind a computer screen.
I always finish my talks with a live hacking demonstration to make my point strong, that if I, as a teenager, can learn how to hack, what stops someone who is more advanced and has malicious intent from doing very bad things easily? This is why people need to take cybersecurity seriously.
One of my hacks was presented at “The One” conference in the Netherlands. I decided to hack a toy teddy bear to show how highly connected the world is nowadays — and with this connectivity comes the need for caution as phones, home appliances and even children’s toys, are exploitable.
From then on and at other conferences I have demonstrated hacking other IoT devices such as remote-controlled cars in Prague and drones in South Africa.
Media that covered these conversations started to call me a “child hacker”. When I was eight or nine, I was also called the “chairperson of the conference” because the conference team would usually have to find a chair for me to stand on so I could reach the microphone and give talks.
A few people have overlooked me, and have personally attacked both me and my family by sending hate messages trying to invalidate the skills that I have because of my age.
I think people are keener to listen to a teenager talking on stage than just any other normal presentation or talk. The security community has been very supportive and accepting of me and the points I am trying to get across.
I would like to get a college scholarship to Stanford for gymnastics because they have a great team programme, they are very academically focused and it is a great school, and, God willing, I would like to compete in the Olympics.
