Explore the latest news and trends  

Sign up for our weekly security newsletter


Be the first to receive important updates on security





Send

Student Steals District School Database

Michael Wasa, aged 18, and a senior at JP Taravella High in Coral Springs, is facing accusations of intercepting personal data of a large number of district employees. The hack into addresses and Social Security numbers of 37,000 employees endangers the latter of identity theft, according to documents from court, as reported by Sun-Senitel on March 25, 2008.

The court documents also revealed that a teacher had become suspicious when she felt that an illegal activity was going on, as she could not access a classroom PC that Wasa used on February 26, 2008.

The IT team of the school found that someone downloaded decrypting software, allowing the truant to hack into a stack of data and collect information of students and teachers from the Broward County school's system.

According to records, when school administrators, on March 4, 2008, questioned Wasa regarding the hack, he readily admitted it saying that he breached the school servers without permission. Wasa was then asked to hand over the thumb drive that held the emergency contact details for the 3,000 students of Taravella.

A special search warrant in the connection also revealed programs for hacking, a list of password-protected hacker programs and credit card generating software to falsify students' credit card details, on a computer Wasa allegedly used in February 2008.

Michael is also suspected of gathering personal information like names, date of birth, addresses, and Social Security numbers belonging to all district employees ranging from faculty to school bus drivers.

District Project Manager, Melissa Grimm, told to the audit committee of the district that the pupil had hacked into Pinnacle, an e grade book. Fortunately, the school employees' payroll wasn't affected, as reported by Sun-Senitel on March 25, 2008.

On March 6, 2008, Wasa was barred from attending school for ten days while authorities of the district's schools are considering driving him out permanently. However, there haven't been any arrests.

Meanwhile, Police are trying to find out if Wasa has done anything with all the information that he collected. Anthony Avello, Spokesmen for Coconut Creek Police said that no charges have yet been decided against Wasa, as reported by Miamiherald on March 25, 2008.

Related article: Storm Worm Returns with Follow-Up Attack

ยป SPAMfighter News - 3/31/2008

3 simple steps to update drivers on your Windows PCSlow PC? Optimize your Slow PC with SLOW-PCfighter!Email Cluttered with Spam? Free Spam Filter!

Dear Reader

We are happy to see you are reading our IT Security News.

We do believe, that the foundation for a good work environment starts with fast, secure and high performing computers. If you agree, then you should take a look at our Business Solutions to Spam Filter & Antivirus for even the latest version of Exchange Servers - your colleagues will appreciate it!

Go back to previous page
Next