“Times have changed” and “back in my day…” are phrases we tend to hear a lot, and as much as these words sound like a broken record to our adolescent ears, they’re true. When our parents were growing up, their parents had to warn them about things like getting in cars with strangers and being outside after dark.

A few nights ago my parents sat me down to talk to me about the fact that I downloaded too many illegal movies onto my laptop, and invited a hacker right in to view all of my personal files, passwords, pictures, and other information. My parents proceeded to launch into what seemed to be a well rehearsed presentation on the dangers of computer hacking.

After enduring the lecture of my technologically misinformed parents, I decided to sit down with a real life computer hacker: Prairie Ridge junior Reese Sadowski. Going into our conversation I was sure that what Reese did was illegal, harmful, and took advantage of us more naive computer users. However, Reese told me that his “main goal is to learn about how computer security systems work, how viruses function, and how [he] can use that information to make the internet a safer more secure place for everyone.”

Reese calls himself a “White Hat,” which is internet slang for an ethical computer hacker, or a computer security expert, who specializes in penetration testing to ensure the security of information.

Reese showed me a video in which one of these White Hat hackers gets into a home Wifi system and runs a program through it which retrieves the password. Instead of using the password to steal the Wifi or any of the family’s information, the hacker puts up a barrier to protect the Wifi password from bad hackers, or “Black Hats,” a hacker who violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain.

I really wanted to call the barrier put up by this White Hat around the password a “spell,” but Reese informed me that there is actually no magic involved.

Reese told me that he visits computer club from time to time, and plans on “majoring in computer science and minoring in information assurance with an emphasis in penetration testing and security architecture.” He says he would be “hired by large corporations and government agencies to, for lack of a better term, protect their stuff.”

He explains that the hobby doesn’t consume his life, and that he spends a few hours on it a month but enjoys doing it.

As technology becomes increasingly prevalent in not only our day-to-day lives, but also our national security, it is important for people like Reese to pursue their interests. Given that my last Google search was “how to do a screenshot on a Mac desktop,” I’m relieved to learn that there are actually hackers looking out for those of us less talented with computers.