[ISN] Hacker hands over laptop

[InfoSec News]

http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-34/1138897570313390.xml&coll=5

By Bernie Hillman
THE FLINT JOURNAL 
February 02, 2006

LINDEN - A Linden High School senior who hacked into school records -
possibly for the purpose of changing school grades, police say -
handed his laptop over to police Tuesday.

The laptop will be delivered to the state police crime lab in Lansing
next week, said Argentine Township police Lt. Bruce Coverdill.

Coverdill said the 17-year-old, who was suspended Jan. 25 for 10 days,
is not talking to police and has an attorney.

"He admitted getting into some files," Coverdill said. "We don't know
what files - possibly changing school grades; we don't know to what
degree."

But hacking into a school computer is no easy task, said Thomas
Svitkovich, superintendent for the Genesee Intermediate School
District.

"There are fire walls and protective devices in place at all levels,"  
he said. "The systems are closed systems. You can't just dial up and
get into something, but I don't know what he got into or what he was
doing."

It's too early in the investigation to know if the teen acted alone,
said Coverdill, who noted that the hacking may have been going on for
some time.

"(The school) had suspected something was wrong with their files. They
approached him, and he admitted to it," Coverdill said.

Superintendent Elizabeth Leonard said she couldn't say much more other
than the investigation is ongoing.

"Certainly he got into some Linden files," Leonard said.

Students will have limits on what they can access via computer until
the investigation is complete, but Leonard said she could not say what
those limits will be.

Senior Jamie Wolverton said the incident was not the talk of the
school. She found out about it Wednesday from a teacher in the
computer lab class.

"Someone said they couldn't save something, and (the teacher) said
someone hacked into the system, and now we couldn't do that," Jamie
said.

"She didn't say how or who. We used to be able to save on a disc or
under your own name, and now we can't do that."

Leonard said a decision whether to lengthen the suspension was
expected to be made today.

©2006 Flint Journal