Do Not Pass Pwn, Do Not Collect Your Diploma, Go Straight to Jail
June 24th, 2008 by Justin Ryan
It sounds like the plot from a bad teen movie — or an episode of MTV's High School Stories — but a kid from Orange County actually managed to get himself arrested for hacking the school's computer system to prop up his less-than-perfect grades.
Apparently, this shining star used a stolen password to change grades — not just for himself, but twelve other students too — on his teacher's computer, and tried to use spyware to gain himself an in to the school network. Unfortunately, his hacker skills were no better than his schoolwork, and he gave himself away when he requested a transcript from the school — to fight a rejection from the University of California. Now, instead of a diploma and a college kegger, he's up for 38 years in prison — we'd call that an epic fail.
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Justin Ryan is News Editor for LinuxJournal.com.
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Excessive punishment?
On June 24th, 2008 Anonymous (not verified) says:
Does anyone thing 38 years is just a bit excessive. Sure, it's fraud and probably myriad misdemeanors, but some murders and rapists don't get that much time. Personally, I am surprised the law has caught up with such hacking. Cool story though.