South Tahoe High School student arrested for "hacking"
Technorati Tag: Security Breach
Date Reported:
10/9/08
Organization:
Lake Tahoe Unified School District
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
South Tahoe High School
Location:
South Lake Tahoe, California
Victims:
"staff and students"
Number Affected:
Unknown*
*According to the school's Academic Performance Index (API), there are ~730 students at the school.
Types of Data:
"names, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers and other personal information, including user names and passwords"
Breach Description:
South Lake Tahoe police arrested a 17-year-old South Tahoe High School student on Wednesday for allegedly hacking into the school's computer system last week.
Reference URL:
Tahoe Daily Tribune
The Mercury News
Report Credit:
Adam Jensen, Tahoe Daily Tribune
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
South Lake Tahoe police arrested a 17-year-old South Tahoe High School student on Wednesday for allegedly hacking into the school's computer system last week.
[Evan] Was this 17-year-old malicious or do you suppose he was just bored and up for a perceived challenge? Bragging rights are pretty significant for teenage peers. We have read about other teens that have gotten in trouble for gaining and exploiting unauthorized access to high school computer systems. Do high schools teach computer ethics to teens? I doubt that parents do. Most teens learn their computing and technology habits from other teens.
Administrators discovered a security breach on one of the district's computers on Thursday
[Evan] This is interesting. How did administrators discover the breach?
The boy may have accessed sensitive information regarding staff and students
"The exposure appears to be limited to South Tahoe High School's internal student information system. The breach may have allowed access to the names, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers and other personal information, including user names and passwords," the statement said.
"The district has taken measures to increase system security. At this time, the district does not believe that any other school data has been compromised."
[Evan] I would love to know the details. Anyone can say "we have taken measures to increase security". Providing assurances beyond words takes more.
The student was suspended after the discovery by district officials and was arrested after a follow-up investigation by police.
"As a precaution, the students and staff members who have used personal passwords in the system have been asked to change this information," according to the district's statement. "Furthermore, we wish to inform parents of students and employees that their personal information may have been accessed."
Anyone with information concerning the ongoing investigation is asked to contact officer Scott Willson of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at .
Commentary:
I would encourage high schools (and parents if possible) to teach our teens the good and the bad about technology. Maybe offer an ethical hacking class to students, or share the consequences of poor choices as they relate to technology. We need to get creative with kids, give them things to keep them occupied and demonstrate good decision-making.
Now how do you suppose this teen "hacked" into the school's computer system(s)? My first guess would be a compromised username and password, something like a teacher writing his/her credentials down on a Post-It note.
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Date Reported:10/9/08
Organization:
Lake Tahoe Unified School District
Contractor/Consultant/Branch:
South Tahoe High School
Location:
South Lake Tahoe, California
Victims:
"staff and students"
Number Affected:
Unknown*
*According to the school's Academic Performance Index (API), there are ~730 students at the school.
Types of Data:
"names, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers and other personal information, including user names and passwords"
Breach Description:
South Lake Tahoe police arrested a 17-year-old South Tahoe High School student on Wednesday for allegedly hacking into the school's computer system last week.
Reference URL:
Tahoe Daily Tribune
The Mercury News
Report Credit:
Adam Jensen, Tahoe Daily Tribune
Response:
From the online sources cited above:
South Lake Tahoe police arrested a 17-year-old South Tahoe High School student on Wednesday for allegedly hacking into the school's computer system last week.
[Evan] Was this 17-year-old malicious or do you suppose he was just bored and up for a perceived challenge? Bragging rights are pretty significant for teenage peers. We have read about other teens that have gotten in trouble for gaining and exploiting unauthorized access to high school computer systems. Do high schools teach computer ethics to teens? I doubt that parents do. Most teens learn their computing and technology habits from other teens.
Administrators discovered a security breach on one of the district's computers on Thursday
[Evan] This is interesting. How did administrators discover the breach?
The boy may have accessed sensitive information regarding staff and students
"The exposure appears to be limited to South Tahoe High School's internal student information system. The breach may have allowed access to the names, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers and other personal information, including user names and passwords," the statement said.
"The district has taken measures to increase system security. At this time, the district does not believe that any other school data has been compromised."
[Evan] I would love to know the details. Anyone can say "we have taken measures to increase security". Providing assurances beyond words takes more.
The student was suspended after the discovery by district officials and was arrested after a follow-up investigation by police.
"As a precaution, the students and staff members who have used personal passwords in the system have been asked to change this information," according to the district's statement. "Furthermore, we wish to inform parents of students and employees that their personal information may have been accessed."
Anyone with information concerning the ongoing investigation is asked to contact officer Scott Willson of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department at .
Commentary:
I would encourage high schools (and parents if possible) to teach our teens the good and the bad about technology. Maybe offer an ethical hacking class to students, or share the consequences of poor choices as they relate to technology. We need to get creative with kids, give them things to keep them occupied and demonstrate good decision-making.
Now how do you suppose this teen "hacked" into the school's computer system(s)? My first guess would be a compromised username and password, something like a teacher writing his/her credentials down on a Post-It note.
Past Breaches:
Unknown
Posts Atom 1.0
Comments