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High school hack: Teenager suspended for accessing confidential school records and posting them on Facebook

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Dissent

David Collins of The Mirror reports:

A teenager hacked into his school’s “secure” database and posted pupils’ disciplinary records on Facebook.

Lewis Blessed, 15, was suspended from classes for nine days after revealing confidential staff comments about children who had misbehaved.

But his mum Andrea, 43, says the school over-reacted – because her son simply memorised a teacher’s ­username which had flashed up when she was using an overhead projector – then just guessed her password.

The Avon sales leader said: “It gave him instant access to pupil’s date of births, addresses, disciplinary records, the lot.” Mrs Blessed, of Rotherham, South Yorks, added: “He shouldn’t have been excluded from school. It was just a prank. He is hardly an expert computer hacker.

“I don’t know what he wants to do when he grows up, but hopefully it won’t be anything to do with IT.”

Tony Bishop, headmaster of St Pius X Catholic High School in Rotherham, was alerted to the breach by a parent whose daughter’s disciplinary record was posted on her Facebook wall.

He said: “We informed police and the company who created our database.

“Further investigations identified the individual and the school suspended the student.”

Source: The Mirror.

And yes, the student’s mother appears to be an idiot for sending her son a terrible message by trying to minimize or excuse what he did. If the teen is ever charged criminally, his best defense might be that he wasn’t raised properly.

But if he really just guessed the teacher’s password, the school needs to require better passwords.

Category: Breach IncidentsBreach TypesCommentaries and AnalysesEducation SectorHack

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