:: Teens hack into school district's computer system
Two teenagers caused grief for teachers, staff and administrators at Carmel Unified School District after the teens downloaded Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses from the district's computers.
District administrators on Thursday sent notices to employees, advising them to check their credit reports for any suspicious activities that may have been a result of the hacking.
Superintendent Marvin Biasotti said he learned Wednesday that employee information for more than 100 employees was found on a student's home computer.
The coordinator of technology and special projects for the district said that problems in the district's computer system that allowed the teen to obtain the information have been resolved.
"We know how they got into it," said Paul Behan. "We have since closed that hole but to go into specifics right now might cause problems for someone else who has a similar hole."
Two boys illegally gained access to the school computer system but only one of them was charged with three felony counts for computer crimes, deputies reported. Deputies said the boys were aged 15 and 17, but it is unclear which was charged.
Officials said the boy who was charged for allegedly hacking into the district's computer system was a student at Carmel High School last school year, and that the hacking took place at school in March.
Forensic investigators at the Monterey County Sheriff's Office have worked since June to go through the hard drive
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that was seized from a computer in one of the boy's homes.
Sgt. Kevin Oakley said hacking software and confidential information were found on the machine. Investigators will determine if any stolen information was used to open new accounts or even sold online.
"This is the first time the department has seen anything like this," said Oakley.
The theft took place over a period of weeks and contained information from staff and faculty, said Behan.
District technicians discovered in March that someone had hacked into the system and alerted the Monterey County Sheriff's Office.
A San Jose company was called in to check the systems and make sure they were locked up, Behan said. Passwords for teachers, parents and employees were changed.
"There are no other concerns other than what the Sheriff's Office reported, quite honestly," Behan said.
Several employees contacted the district administrators with their concerns. Representatives from employee groups could not be reached late Thursday.
A recent story in USA Today said teenagers who commit computer crimes are curious thieves and not malicious. An anonymous survey of 4,800 high schoolers in San Diego released by the American Psychological Association conference showed that 18 percent of them had gone into someone's computer or Web site without permission, and 16 percent took material.
Sheriff's investigators said they aren't sure of the teenagers' motives.
"In general, for some kids who are very good in computers it becomes somewhat of a game," said Sgt. Joe Moses. "It kind of gives you bragging rights."
