Britain is in the grip of an adolescent cybercrime wave, with one in ten teenagers openly admitting to being friends with someone who has committed an online offence.

To mark Safer Internet Day 2016, the tech security firm Kaspersky conducted a survey of more than 1,500 teens.

The frightening results show that our youngsters have a shockingly cavalier attitude to online crime.

A "deeply worrying one in 10" claimed they would be impressed if a friend hacked an air traffic control system - even though this could have disastrous consequences.

Some 35% of respondents said they would also admire anyone who managed to hack a banking website.

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Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos, consumer and business psychologist at University College London, said teenagers were irresistibly drawn to online crime.

“Rebellion, curiosity and an urge to demonstrate their independence are natural characteristics of the 16 to 19 age-group," he said.

"As the first truly digital native generation, rebelling has simply become another aspect of their lives that can go digital.

"Cyber crimes have become glamorised in society and represent an attack on the ‘system’ and allow individuals to express their teenage angst, in which they struggle to identify their place within society, and to achieve the kind of social validation and attention that many teenagers seek."

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David Emm, principal security researcher at Kaspersky Labs, warned parents that their kids could become entangled in a criminal underworld while sitting in their bedrooms.

“It’s frighteningly easy for teenagers to find their way into the dark corners of the internet today," he said.

"Young people exploring, experimenting or taking their first steps towards making some easy money online can all too easily end up here in search of tools and advice.

"Once in, they are vulnerable to exploitation for more complex schemes, perhaps being drawn into a fraudulent activity by playing the role of a money mule, or being asked to create a malicious program.

"It’s far harder to get out than it is to get in.”

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