Students at Florida A & M University were indicted recently for allegedly hacking into the school computer and changing the grades and residency status of approximately 90 people, according to a local news website. According to school and law enforcement officials, the students changes numerous grades from F’s to A’s and changed the residency status of students to instate so that the students would be eligible for financial assistance and grants and the cheaper instate tuition. The three students at Florida A & M in Tallahassee, Florida were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, unauthorized computer access, aggravated identity fraud and identity fraud. If convicted, the students face significant prison time.
According to reports, the Florida A & M students were able to access the school’s network and change the grades by installing a keystroke logger that records the keystrokes of the person using the school computer and allows a hacker to learn the username and password. This and other identity theft techniques have been discussed previously on this blog here.