I came here to say something like “and y’all been saying the kids these days don’t have computer skills” but then I read:
"Utilizing LinkedIn, a hacker impersonated an MGM Grand employee in a call with the company’s IT Department and requested a password reset, SFGATE reported, and gained access to MGM’s internal systems about 10 minutes later.
Hackers then reportedly disabled slot machines and hotel key cards, blocked employee email access and prevented the hotel from booking guests and taking reservations."
I know next to nothing about hacking, but this screams “upper-level employee used easily guessable password.”
It’s referred to as social engineering and is a completely different skillset to hacking.
Thank you for answering the question I deleted as being redundant: “Like, does this even count as hacking?” !
I doubt it was the teen who posed as the employee, since they’d be pretending to be a person with enough access for the team to pull all those shenanigans. More likely the teen was the weaker link the cops could pressure and/or offer leniency.