Teens charged with breaking into school computer

File under life imitating art

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Security, 11th January 2007 21:30 GMT

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Two New Jersey teens have been accused by police of illegally tapping in to a school computer to change grades.

Jonathan To, 18, and another teen who wasn't identified because he's a juvenile, were charged with computer theft after a routine audit discovered a discrepancy between grade reports and school transcripts, according to officials. To faces up to 10 years in prison. His alleged accomplice could be detained until he's 21, the Associated Press and a local newspaper report.

The alleged stunt reminds us of the 1983 movie War Games, in which David Lightman, played by Matthew Broderick, hacks into his school's computer to change a poor biology grade. The whiz is eventually apprehended by the FBI after he accidentally accesses a top-secret network that controls the US nuclear arsenal.

There were no such allegations in the Cherry Hill, N.J., case. The pair, which couldn't be reached for comment, are accused of only of changing the grades of five students in the 2005-2006 school year. ®

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