These kids were taking total control of them within hours

That's impressive broadly speaking, but not terribly useful unless you have unfettered access to the machines for that length of time.

Security measures on the machines aren't supposed to just be in the hardware/software. They're also supposed to be locked up and tagged, so that any physical tampering is noted when they are used again.

If you've got teenagers who have breached that first level of security, it's much bigger news that what they managed after hours of manipulating a device in the open.