14-15-year-old teenagers from Uzbekistan took first place in the cyber security competition held in Azerbaijan on July 24-29. These guys actually hacked the Senate website a while ago and caused a stir. After the incident, which caused a lot of discussion at the time, the children are now working at the Cyber ​​Security Center of Uzbekistan. They spend their free time at this center. Azizbek, the leader of the group, started studying cyber security when he was 10-11 years old. How Azizbek managed to do it, where to start to become a good expert in the field of cyber security? We will hear the answer to such questions from him.

- Now you are 15 years old and work at the cyber security center of Uzbekistan. How old were you when you got interest in this field?

- At first I dreamed of becoming a programmer. That's why I started learning programming languages ​​before the start of the 2019 quarantine, that is, when I was 11-12 years old. A year later, the number of programmers began to increase in Uzbekistan. It has also become more difficult to get a job as a programmer. Everyone started learning IT. And I was interested in a more difficult route, which no one chose. And it was information security. That's how I entered the industry. Cyber ​​security has not yet developed in Uzbekistan, it is not taught anywhere, there were no courses.

- At the age of 10-12, children do not understand exactly what they are interested in. How did you figure out what you were interested in at such a young age?

- Since I was a child, I have watched many films related to this field. After watching films about information security in foreign countries, my interest in this field increased. And I started to find the information I needed.

- What information did you find and learn at the beginning?

- The Internet itself is an open source. If you wish to learn, you can find any information. Only the interest should be high. At the beginning, not only my family, but also many people in Uzbekistan did not know much about cyber security. At that time, I learned many languages ​​and words used in my field. I studied non-stop for 2 years. The more I learn, the more I don't know. The important thing is to be interested in.

- What other characteristics should be present in order to be a strong cybernetic besides curiosity?

- Concentration, quick decision-making in any situation. In this area, you may not understand the information after readingonce. Therefore, it is necessary to read the given knowledge 10-15 times. But it seems much easier when you read what you read at the beginning when you come to the middle of the knowledge. New knowledge is always emerging in this field.

- Can you briefly and clearly explain what cyber security is?

- Cyber ​​security is about keeping our personal data safe. For example, to ensure that our non-disclosure information, such as photos, in our gallery is not shared. It can also be public information.

- In 2022, your hacking the Senate website became a sensation. What changed in your life after that?

- We said that the security of the Senate website is low, there is a vulnerability. We wanted to break it down because it was ignored. After that, it was explained to us that it is a mistake to violate and this knowledge should be used for good. Disruption only leads to evil. We had all the information on our channel, that's how they found us. Then the Cyber ​​Security Center gathered all of us and organized a club under the center.

- Have you hacked the Senate website as a group?

- Yes, it happened. I have friends who are the same age as me, who are also interested in this field and have studied independently. Now there are 14-15, even 12-year-old cybernetic among us. We share our knowledge with each other. We all met in the virtual world.

- How was the competition in Azerbaijan, under what conditions did you compete?

- They gave us all the conditions in the club near the cyber security center. As a member of this club, we will use the weaknesses that we find for the right purpose, not to the bad way, but to the owners. The center sent it to a youth camp on cyber security in Azerbaijan. We exchanged ideas with our peers and learned from professionals. There were participants from 6 countrie: Azerbaijan, Turkey, Israel, Turkey, Singapore, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

At the end, the CTF competition was held and we won the first place among 125 children. In this case, one system is given, it is necessary to break it and get the information.

- What is the cyber security market and how can you make money from it?

- The market of our industry is called Bug Bounty. That is, those who find the flaws in the websites of large companies will be rewarded. For example, Google, Facebook, Apple have it. If you find a flaw in them and report it to them via the Bug Bounty platform, they will pay based on the impact of the vulnerability. A member of our group received $1,000 from Alibaba for a vulnerability he found, and $200 from Apple. This amount varies depending on how much it affects the reputation of the company. Apple has promised $1 million to a hacker who can crack its pincode.

- How dangerous or safe do you think artificial intelligence, which is developing today, will be for humans in the future?

- Artificial intelligence is designed to make people's work easier. But they are also using it for fraud. For example, they use it for blackmail by changing the voice or using a normal person's face in another video. But if you ask AI to help with any kind of hacking, the answer is that we don't support any dangerous level of hacking ideas.

- What are your future plans?

- We have no intention of stopping after the result in Azerbaijan. Now I want to take part in international level competitions and learn from strong international experts and become an apprentice to them. In general, my main goal is to become the strongest expert in the field of cyber security. Because a cyber security expert is twice as smart as a programmer. That is, when a programmer creates a program, it requires the programmer to be smart to study it and find a weakness.

At the end of the conversation, I would like to say that if robotics is taught in schools in Uzbekistan, I would like it to be included as a subject. Even if they get at least basic knowledge, later more experts will come out in this field.