Potentially Racist SMS Sent to Thousands of Students

A message that read “The monkey got out of the cage” was sent to the mobile phones of students and staff from the University of Florida on the Inauguration Day. A man confessed to misusing the university's system and sending the message, which many thought was a racist slur against President Barack Obama.

The University of Florida (UF) uses a system to send notifications about campus life and courses to its students via SMS messages. However, on the Inauguration Day, instead of important pieces of information, the students received a mysterious message that simply said “The monkey got out of the cage.” The puzzling content went on to make the subject of many blog and social networking discussions, with a lot of people linking it to the important event taking place at the White House.

Mobile Campus, the company that provides and operates the text-messaging service, was forced to shut it down, and started an investigation into the matter with the help of the campus police. A police spokesperson then speculated that the origin of the attack might be off the campus, while a company representative pointed out that it didn't really look like hacking.

It seems like they were both right, as a former Mobile Campus employee has came forth and assumed responsibility for the incident. The man claims that, while he was showing off to his friends about the fact that he still had access to the system, he accidentally pressed the “Send” key He also maintains that the message was not a racist reference to Barack Obama, and that he is actually an Obama supporter, who voted for the current president during the last elections.

The man, who has not yet been named, now faces computer crime charges. According to UF News, the police has explained that this is a third-degree felony, and that it is awaiting for the State Attorney's Office to file charges. Of course, the big question is why did he still have access to the system after his employment with Mobile Campus was terminated.

“The importance of killing off usernames and passwords when individuals leave your business can’t be stressed highly enough,” Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for anti-virus vendor Sophos, warns. “It’s all too easy (and sometimes tempting) for people to break back into your system, either for reasons of revenge, commercial advantage, or to look clever in front of their mates,” the security expert explains.