Hack database, change school grades, go to jail for 20 years (maybe)
Peoplesoft hack, allegedly
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It's the stuff of movies such as War Games but two California men accused of hacking into a University database system to change their grades face up to 20 years imprisonment.
John Escalera, 29, and Gustavo Razo, 28, are charged (PDF) with conspiring together to increase their marks by manipulating California State University at Fresno's PeopleSoft-based database. The duo allegedly took advantage of Escalera's position as a help desk worker to pull off the hack.
Escalera allegedly used unspecified hacking techniques to acquire a supervisor password. He used this illicit access to inflate his grades and those of his friend, Razo, who paid for the "boost" in his academic scores.
Their grades were allegedly changed several times between January and June 2004. Evidence that led to the indictment came about from a routine audit performed to check the accuracy of the conversion of data following a database upgrade from a legacy to PeopleSoft-based system.
Escalera and Razo face charges of computer hacking, identity theft, conspiracy, and wire fraud offences punishable for a lengthy jail term as well as fines of up to $250K, IDG reports. ®
COMMENTS
If I had this power
I'd change my *worst enemies* grades, cover enough tracks as for me not getting incriminated (but enough for the hack to be caught). Then wait a month, and if the school dudes haven't noticed, give an "anonymous tip-off". WHAM!
I mean, even with school grades someone is bound to find out; anything with a paper trail or audit logs can and will be checked upon. So I'd go for screwing up someone else ... though even then you might get caught. oops.
lawl?
Working from the other end of the scale...
The one and only time i will admit that i was "involved" with such illicit activities was as an authorized white-hat making an attempt to reach a very private database which contained several million customer records, including bank details, addresses and the like, for a company in South Yorkshire (UK).
The contract description was "[snip]...attempt to gain access to customer data via external means.[/snip]"
It took as little as firing up Windoze remote desktop software from my laptop and calling the hell-desk posing as the boss’s son saying "My dad wanted me to check the weekly figures again and I have forgotten the network password!"
I honestly thought they wouldn’t buy it, but you would be surprised by the power of stupidity!
After two weeks of working with the hell-desk rookies and the network "administrator"(laugh) I decided the job was getting boring, claimed the system was wrapped up tighter than an Eskimo’s nad-sack and took my pay check!
I think the company closed down a few years later......who knows! =)
Oh the good old days!
Re: Thats a lot of time
It's nowhere near enough they should go down for life, it's people like this that threaten the very fabric of society. God knows what would happen if they got together with a group of immigrants. They could destroy our world AT WILL.
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