They jestingly call him " chairperson" at the conferences where he lectures - not because he heads a company but because at 8 years of age, Reuben Paul, CEO and founder of Austin, Texas-based company Prudent Games, needs to stand on a chair to reach the microphone on top of the lectern.
In Delhi to speak at the ongoing Ground Zero Summit, a gathering of top Indian and global experts on cyber security, it was evident that though Reuben may lack in years and height, but he certainly does not lack in confidence. Dressed in Kungu Fu gear, Reuben - he's also the youngest Shaolin Do Kung Fu Black belt - took the stage to the sound of music confidently twirling a shaolin stick.
With his father, Mano Paul, mother Sangeetha and toddler brother Ittai looking on, Reuben spoke extempore referring to a power-point presentation on the screen behind. His speech titled "Developing ROOt-Kidz: The future of Cyber Security," emphasised why parents - the adults in the audience - needed to teach their children some of the basic rules of Internet safety. Demonstrating his prowess with hacking into computer systems, he showed how it was child's play for hackers to trick web users and steal information through malware like clickjacking and Java applet attacks.
Later, fielding questions from the media like a pro, Reuben explained that it all started a year-and-a-half ago."My father trains people in the area of software development and cyber security, and I used to be listening in and one day when he was on a business call and seemed to have forgotten some terms, and I prompted him from back. He then began training me."
The story of how he started his own company is as interesting."Reuben was selected for the Gifted and Talented programme (run by the Texas education system) and had to make a game. The others made boardgames and such like, but Reuben who is passionate about video games, decided to come up with one," says his mother Sangeetha, a IT professional herself. "That game was about shooting Ninja stars, but I wanted to bring in an element of math so you could only hit the monster if he had the right answer," says Reuben.
Prudent Games, which makes games that combine educational content with fun, also had an App which shows children how to come up with secure passwords and another about the basics of Bruteforce attacks, which is used by hackers to, among other things, crack passwords.
As for revenues, it has earned all of seven dollars, he says shyly. "Earning money was never the point," says his mother. Given his packed schedule through the week, he only gets to work on gaming on weekends, or holidays.
But there's much more to Reuben than gaming or cyber security - at the age of two, he was crowned America's Most Beautiful Baby. RAPster, as his friends call him, because his name forms the acronym RAP (he has a middle name Abhishai), also does gymnastics, swims, plays Inline Hockey, and takes lessons in music (piano and drums) and also learns art. "I'd also like to learn cooking," he adds. "He loves watching food shows but getting him to eat is a struggle," complains his mother. Kids will only be kids.
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