Andrew Blake reports a follow-up to a hack previously noted on this site. A teenager was arrested in North Carolina on Wednesday after a months-long investigation led authorities to believe that he broke into a high school computer system and altered several students’ grades in a Ferris Bueller-styled hack. High school senior Saivamsi Hanumanthu, 17,…
Category: Education Sector
University of Central Florida hack compromises 63,000 Social Security numbers
UCF posted the following statement today: An intrusion into the University of Central Florida’s computer network has resulted in unauthorized access to certain personal information of some current and former students and employees. After UCF discovered the unauthorized access in January, university officials immediately reported the incident to law enforcement and launched an internal investigation…
NY: Teen admits to hacking New Dorp High School student records
There’s an update on a case previously noted on this site and elsewhere involving a student hacking his school’s computer system and the city’s Education Department computers to change his grades. Frank Donnelly reports that Eric Walstrom of New Dorp pleaded guilty Wednesday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to felony and misdemeanor counts of computer…
Lawmakers Roast the Education Dept.’s Top Technology Officer Over Ethics and Data Security
Kelly Field reports: Angry lawmakers hammered the Education Department’s chief information officer, Danny A. Harris, at a hearing Tuesday, accusing him of ethical lapses and failing to secure the agency’s “vulnerable” information systems. “Cybersecurity for the federal government is a matter of quality management and effective leadership, not just tech,” said Rep. Will Hurd, a Texas Republican…
Defendant in U. Northern Iowa tax refund fraud scheme to plead guilty
There’s an update to the data breach involving the University of Northern Iowa. As reported previously, Bernard Ogie Oretekor (aka Emmanuel Libs) was charged in an identity theft tax refund fraud scheme that impacted 100 UNI faculty members. Now KWWL reports that he will plead guilty and the charges will be transferred to California, where he…
U. British Columbia statement re: FOI privacy breach
On January 25, 2016, UBC responded to numerous FOI requests related to the resignation of Dr. Arvind Gupta from his post as UBC’s President in August 2015. Due to the large number of requests, and the large number of responsive pages, UBC chose to consolidate these requests and posted a package of 861 responsive pages…