2 Students Are Accused of Altering Grades in Computer Hacking Case

加大女生扮駭客 修理教授惹官司

洛杉磯時報二十五日訊

加州州立大學北嶺(Northridge)校區兩名亞裔大學女生闖入一位教授的電腦，為將近三百名學生打成績；並訂披薩、雜誌、光碟片送到這位教授家。

來自托倫斯(Torrance)的陳蘭娜(音譯，Lena Chen、20歲)和設籍阿罕布拉的珍妮佛‧顏(音譯，Jennifer Ngan、19歲) ，8月21日將以非法闖入電腦輕罪(misdemeanor)及其他罪名出庭。如果被判有罪，將面臨一年監禁處分。

加州州立大學校警表示，陳姓學生承認在電腦上回答一個例行安全問題後，更換了教授電腦的密碼。

她還承認，為近三百名學生打成績；她把顏生的政治學成績從「D+」改成「A」，該校未公布這位教授的姓名。

市檢察官辦公室發言人瑪特詹(Frank Mateljan) 說：「因為她們認為該教授不公平，她們是為所有學生抱不平。她們企圖當學校的搗蛋鬼。」

調查人員表示，該教授在學校的電郵被傳到這兩名學生共同設的電腦帳號，她們在北嶺分租一間公寓。

學校發言人史威希(Ken Swisher) ，過去沒發生過這種事。

今年全國大學80萬人敏感資料曾經遭30次企圖闖入。

這兩名女學生利用學校人員識別資訊向Domino及Pizza Hut訂披薩送教授家，她們為教授訂的雜誌包括Time、Newsweek、Ebony、Sports Illustrated以及空白光碟片送到教授家。教授收到賬單，但是最後並未付費。

【2006/07/26 世界日報】

2 Students Are Accused of Altering Grades in Computer Hacking Case

By Stephen Clark, Times Staff Writer
July 26, 2006

Source: L. A. Times

Two Cal State Northridge students have been accused of hacking into a professor's computer, giving grades to nearly 300 students and sending pizza, magazine subscriptions and CDs to the professor's home.

Lena Chen, 20, of Torrance and Jennifer Ngan, 19, of Alhambra are to be arraigned Aug. 21 on misdemeanor charges of accessing computers illegally and other counts. If convicted, they face up to a year in prison.

According to Cal State police, Chen confessed to getting access to the professor's account by answering a routine security question and changing the password.

"They felt the professor was unfair, and it was on behalf of all the students," said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the city attorney's office, which filed the charges. "They were trying to be college pranksters."

Mateljan said Chen also admitted assigning grades to nearly 300 students and giving Ngan, who was earning a D-plus, an A in the professor's political institutions course. The school would not release the professor's name.

Investigators said the professor's campus e-mail was being forwarded to an account created by Chen and Ngan, who were sharing a Northridge apartment.

Ken Swisher, a campus spokesman, said he knew of no previous incidents like this one. Political science professor Jane Bayes, who has worked at the school since 1968, said she remembered only one student hacking into a computer to change grades in the 1970s.

Nationwide this year, more than 800,000 people at colleges and universities have had sensitive information exposed in more than 30 security failures.

Chen and Ngan allegedly used the professor's personal information found on the university system to order pizza, more than 20 magazine subscriptions — including for Time, Newsweek and Ebony — and a shipment of blank CDs for delivery to the professor's home.

The professor received bills for the orders but was not charged.

"Identity theft and computer tampering are serious matters," Mateljan said. "We want to send a clear message that this type of behavior is unacceptable."