Quote :

" Teens Charged With Loading Spyware, Changing Grades Two Orange County teenagers have been charged with breaking into school computers, installing spyware and altering grades. By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service June 19, 2008 Two Orange County, California, teenagers have been charged with breaking into high school offices and using stolen usernames and passwords to change lackluster grades to A's. Two teens could face prison for allegedly hacking into school's computer system. Omar Khan and Tanvir Singh, both 18, are facing multiple felony charges following a series of break-ins at Tesoro High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. Khan was arrested Monday, and Singh was expected to turn himself into court on Tuesday for arraignment. According to prosecutors, Khan changed the D's and C's he was receiving in Spanish, Calculus and English to two A's and a B+. He's also charged with stealing tests before they had been given and using a stolen username and password to break into school computers and change the grades of 12 other students. He is also alleged to have installed spyware software on the computer hosting the school district's grades database so that he could remotely access this system. The police were called in after Khan requested a copy of his transcript and school officials noticed his stellar grades, the Orange County district attorney's office said. If convicted, Khan could be sentenced to more than 38 years in prison. Singh, who faces fewer charges, faces three years in prison. He's charged with breaking into the school with Khan in order to steal an English test on May 19. According to court filings he sent a text message to Khan around 4 p.m. planning the crime. "Hey wana go to the school tonight," he wrote. "I need someone with balls there with me.""

pwnt

6/19/2008 3:56:16 PM

impressive.

6/19/2008 3:59:46 PM

Quote :

"If convicted, Khan could be sentenced to more than 38 years in prison."

Because it makes more sense to stifle intelligence by locking it away with murders and rapists for 38 years rather than to mentor them and convince them to turn their energy into useful advances in technology.

The legal system fails.

6/19/2008 4:04:31 PM

agreed


but seriously


HOW FUCKING HARD COULD HIGH SCHOOL CALCULUS BE?

6/19/2008 4:06:06 PM

"I asked for a car, I got a computer. How's that for being born under a bad sign?"

6/19/2008 4:07:19 PM

it really was stupid of them to change everything to A's...there's no way i was that stupid as a kid

6/19/2008 4:16:34 PM

i was

6/19/2008 4:21:21 PM

I seriously doubt he'll get 38 years. That's the maximum calculated, but I bet at most, he'll spend a couple of months or just get fined heavily.

6/19/2008 4:22:08 PM

Yeah, I bet he just gets a slap on the wrist and community service.

If they were THAT smart to come up/execute the plan, how come they couldnt study and comprehend calculus? lol

6/19/2008 4:29:09 PM

Quote :

"if you'd just put in the same amount of time DOING the work that you put into trying to AVOID doing the work, you'd do just fine!"

6/19/2008 4:32:32 PM

KKKKHHHHHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

6/19/2008 4:35:49 PM

Quote :

"Because it makes more sense to stifle intelligence by locking it away with murders and rapists for 38 years rather than to mentor them and convince them to turn their energy into useful advances in technology."

they obviously werent really that intelligent...

6/19/2008 5:01:16 PM

Quote :

"According to court filings he sent a text message to Khan around 4 p.m. planning the crime. "Hey wana go to the school tonight," he wrote. "I need someone with balls there with me.""

[Edited on June 19, 2008 at 5:37 PM. Reason : j]

6/19/2008 5:36:53 PM

Quote :

"If they were THAT smart to come up/execute the plan, how come they couldnt study and comprehend calculus? lol"

I know which one I found as a more fun and engaging use of my time.

6/19/2008 5:55:40 PM

Quote :

"KKKKHHHHHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

6/19/2008 6:22:54 PM

Quote :

"Because it makes more sense to stifle intelligence by locking it away with murders and rapists for 38 years rather than to mentor them and convince them to turn their energy into useful advances in technology. The legal system fails."

Installing spyware / keyloggers is not evidence of intelligence. Being a script kiddy is not smart, and requires very little ingenuity. I hope they don't get slapped on the wrist, because this was a fucking stupid idea for SOOOO many reasons. They would have been better off pulling on con on the other end of things (falsified transcript and intercept communications with the high school), both in terms of legal risk and chances of pulling it off.

Or they could have just done their fair share rather than playing World of Warcraft everyday instead.

6/19/2008 7:54:18 PM

Ok in defense of my comments ... I'm not saying what they DID was intelligent or smart ... but it shows signs of misdirected intelligence for them to even think and comprehend how such tasks are accomplished. They very clearly could be encouraged to build on the ideas that flow through their head and use them for good. I'm not defending their actions, but you can't just call them a script kiddie for utilizing technology that exists and accomplishing a task that most of their peers would consider impossible or very difficult. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, no matter how wrong their actions were.

Regardless, pushing them into a prison for "cracking" and giving them a sentence that is not even held up for murderers or rapists is absurd to me.

6/20/2008 1:07:43 AM

^They're fucking idiots. And you know what we should do to idiots, such as these? Lock'em up, cause they're not going to be any good to anyone else.

6/20/2008 7:26:52 AM

Quote :

"HOW FUCKING HARD COULD HIGH SCHOOL CALCULUS BE?"

was harder than college calc 2

[Edited on June 20, 2008 at 8:17 AM. Reason : ]

6/20/2008 8:14:59 AM

6/20/2008 10:30:44 AM

Quote :

"38 years in prison"

lol i just saw a thing on the Hitler network about this drug lord who bought a fucking submarine from the russians and got 60 days and a free ride home

6/20/2008 4:04:31 PM

maybe he needs to serve some time, but please don't waste my tax dollars keeping this kid locked up for 38 years on the first offense for changing some grades.

6/20/2008 4:56:52 PM

^

6/20/2008 5:07:45 PM

^^

6/22/2008 1:51:24 AM

^^^

this goes along with the what i think of as extreme laws/penalties on possession of marijuana, etc.

6/24/2008 10:07:52 AM

Quote :

"I'm not defending their actions, but you can't just call them a script kiddie for utilizing technology that exists and accomplishing a task that most of their peers would consider impossible or very difficult. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, no matter how wrong their actions were."

Yes you can. I can anyway. Utilizing technology is not a sign of intelligence. And accomplishing the task they did is neither impossible or difficult, and I can guarantee you their peers wouldn't think of it as being such.

Now had they understood the system, or what in the fuck they were doing, they COULD have done this in an intelligent and thoughtful way. But instead they chose the lummox, stupid ass kid method, without a shred of common sense or forethought.

The difference between someone like this and say a Kevin Mitnick or a Jonathan James (who were about the same age when they were doing illegal things) is light years apart.

6/24/2008 3:59:17 PM

I agree with most of your post

but this

Quote :

"and I can guarantee you their peers wouldn't think of it as being such."

is just wrong. half the kids probably don't know how to type..managing to change grades is like OMG SUPER HAXOR SKILZ YO!1!

6/24/2008 4:02:57 PM

Quote :

"and I can guarantee you their peers wouldn't think of it as being such."

Quote :

"is just wrong. half the kids probably don't know how to type..managing to change grades is like OMG SUPER HAXOR SKILZ YO!1!"

yeah, really...Noen, how old ARE you that you've forgotten how easily high schoolers are impressed?

although i can see where you're coming from - none of us are especially impressed by your opinion on EVERYTHING

6/24/2008 4:34:09 PM

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"Omar Khan and Tanvir Singh"

great names lol

6/24/2008 4:50:55 PM

I bet that's what the pricipal did when he/she found out.

6/24/2008 6:40:56 PM

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"Omar Khan and Tanvir Singh"

2nd name is Indian, and 1st could be Indian or Pakistani. Either way, both are South Asians.

Quote :

"Khan changed the D's and C's he was receiving in Spanish, Calculus and English"

He obviously didn't receive the Asian gene for math, did he?

6/24/2008 8:28:12 PM

38 years

more like 30 days

6/24/2008 9:11:46 PM

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"I bet that's what the pricipal did when he/she found out."

I was just picturing this guy as one of those kids who gets in trouble and has to go to the principals office all the time.

So in the middle of the day the loudspeaker for the school would come on saying "KKKKHHHHHAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

6/24/2008 10:14:55 PM

Actually, they caught the kids cause they spelled "english" as "Engrish" on the transcript.

6/24/2008 10:43:27 PM

Quote :

"yeah, really...Noen, how old ARE you that you've forgotten how easily high schoolers are impressed? although i can see where you're coming from - none of us are especially impressed by your opinion on EVERYTHING"

I never said they wouldn't be impressed, I said they wouldn't think it was impossible or very difficult. Man I'm fucking AMAZED how tech saavy the next generation are, you guys are putting your fucking heads in the sand if you think somehow every generation doesn't get more and more exposed to and used to technology.

I mean, we have a large portion of the NCSU population on here, most of whom aren't exactly rocket scientists, but I'd wager almost everyone here understands what a trojan horse and a keylogger are. You aren't as nerdy or bright as you think you are (to everyone, myself included). I find this out everyday, that I'm already starting to get passed by in the tech world and im only 26

6/25/2008 1:24:44 AM

Quote :

"Omar Khan and Tanvir Singh"

terrorists

Definitely not the crackers I was thinking this story would be about.

6/25/2008 1:40:50 AM

i know right.

i really thought this thread was going to be about silly white folks.

i mean, it IS, i guess, but you know...

6/25/2008 2:05:42 AM

Jeeze, I've found that kids with names like Omar Khan and Tanvir Singh are usually smarter than their American peers...

6/25/2008 10:29:07 PM