14 DAY TRIAL // A couple of students at San Dimas High School, California, are accused of hacking the school’s computer network and modifying the scores of different students.
One of them, known for previous hacking, allegedly received monetary compensation of up to $500 / €450 for improving grades.
Some students deny knowing their grades were changed
The two suspects are both 18 years old and were arrested on Thursday, the last day of school, for unauthorized computer access and fraud.
It appears that the scores of up to ten students were modified, although it is not clear if it was for the better in all cases.
When interviewed by the police, some of the students that closed the year with different educational scored said that they did not even know about the deed and that they definitely did not ask for this to happen.
The investigation is at the beginning and detectives are working with the school district to learn the full damage of the breach. The entire process could take weeks or even months, the detectives believe.
Improved security posture is necessary
A disciplinary decision is expected to come next week and one of the students whose grades were changed made a comment about this, as coherent as the security measures in many schools.
“I’m worried but I’m not, because we weren’t really involved and we didn’t do anything wrong,” she told KTLA-TV.
Details about the method used by the perps to hack into the school’s computer system were not disclosed, other than gaining access through the school's website, but past reports about similar deeds show that most of the times educational institutions are not sufficiently prepared against cyber intrusions.
On the same note, teachers are sometimes the weak link as they are not always conscious of the security risk when logging into the school’s systems when students are around.