Naughty 9-Year-Old Steals Teacher's Password, Probably Faces Detention
Naughty 9-Year-Old Steals Teacher's Password, Probably Faces Detention
Posted 04/19/2010 at 4:39pm
| by Paul Lilly
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A 9-year-old student attending a Fairfax County Public School in Falls Church, Virginia, created quite the scare for his school district. Faculty thought it was the victim of a hacker attack after someone had been changing teacher passwords on the school district's Blackboard system.
Local police were called in to investigate, who then traced the incident to the home of a 9-year-old student. The kid didn't actually hack the system, but had simply swiped a teacher's password from a desk.
"This was a case where an individual...got hold of a teacher's password, and the passwords had administrative rights," said Paul Regnier, a school board spokesman.
The rebellious student used the administrative account to change enrollment lists and alter other teachers' passwords. Much to the student's chagrin, however, he wasn't able to alter grades or access other machines on the school's system.
"Nothing bad happened this time, but we have to make sure that...it doesn't happen again," said Regnier.
Not writing down high-level passwords and putting them in an unlocked desk might be a start.
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TheZomb
April 20, 2010 at 2:26pm
#include <stdio.h>
void main(void)
{
int i;
for(i = 0; i < 100; i++)
printf("I will not steal my teachers password from her desk!\n");
}
Trooper_One
April 20, 2010 at 12:35pm
People need to understand that hacking includes aspects of social engineering. Leaving a written down password somewhere can be trouble at times.
Torqumada286
April 20, 2010 at 6:16am
I'm guessing no one in the school system ever watched War Games?
Pinkyblister
April 19, 2010 at 7:22pm
In the famous words of Bart Simpson: "I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, can't prove anything!!!"
I guess next they will try to memorize the password "1234". Now that's security!
NSain
April 22, 2010 at 7:31pm
"so the code is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... That's amazing, that's the same code I have on my luggage."
dj-anon
April 19, 2010 at 5:20pm
The teacher must be relieved that the kid seems to be getting all the blame and not the adult that thought writing down a password with administrative rights and leaving it somewhere without supervision was smart.
Vegan
April 19, 2010 at 5:05pm
No such thing as a "stolen" password, only users who let them be taken.
Foxfire15
April 19, 2010 at 4:52pm
Blah, won't let me post my comment. I for one am not surprised though.
___
Quando omni flunkus moritati / If all else fails, play dead.
van_helblaze
April 19, 2010 at 4:54pm
lol, I bet it was well, I guess password is a better password than no password at all.
MarcoNotPolo
April 19, 2010 at 5:24pm
I bet you that she left it on her desk and did not bother putting in her desk.
Zachary K.
April 19, 2010 at 8:47pm
well, i bet you that her password was password and she had to write it down to remember, and so she won't lose it, she puts it on her desk.
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