14 DAY TRIAL // A student at Paul R. Smith Middle School in Florida used his computer skills to bypass the security of the school’s computer network and accessed the server storing FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) data.
The FCAT is a standardized evaluation that is administered each year to students in primary and secondary grades (three through eleven).
Hacker hijacked teacher's computer in class
The method used by the 14-year-old boy to gain access to the server is not known, but he was caught on video when he logged with an administrator account into two of the school’s computers.
It is unclear if any data was extracted from the server or if the files were damaged in any way, but the deed landed him an interview with the police and two felony charges, for using a computer system and for unauthorized access.
In the complaint affidavit obtained by 10 News, the police write that the boy used the administrator account to log without permission into multiple computers in the network. “One of the computers the defendant accessed, without authorization, was a server containing 2014 FCAT information,” the official document reads.
More than this, the young hacker used his illegal privileges to disrupt classroom activities by taking control of a teacher’s computer and show on it an image of two men kissing.
The police say the boy admitted to these activities and that he knew he did not have authorization to access the systems.
Security awareness should be compulsory for schools
With the educational system relying increasingly on computer use for classroom and school activities, one would think that sufficient security measures would be applied, at least to be able to resist the curiosity of the kids.
A 14-year-old managing to reach a machine with sensitive information should definitely set things in motion for better protection of the network and the log-in credentials. Oftentimes, it is the human factor that is to blame for a security breach, and not a computer security flaw.
Passwords should be strong (long and with different characters) and they should not be left lying around on the desk or written on a post-it note, and stuck in a visible spot.