Today in TechHigh school hackers face expulsion over attendance system breach
A group of teens at a high school in Berkeley, Calif. charged fellow students between $2 and $20 to remove records of tardiness and unexcused absences from their permanent records. For a price, they'd even sell other kids the password to the attendance system, which was stolen from a member of the school's staff.
As many as 50 students had their records altered by the teenage hackers, some of whom are said to be among the school's highest academic performers. At least 32 of the kids face suspensions lasting up to five days, while at least two could be expelled because of their actions. School administrators are working with police to determine if there will be any criminal charges filed.
The attendance-fixing scheme lasted from October through December of 2011. At the time, Berkeley's school district required that teachers dock the grades of students with more than 15 tardies or three unexcused absences. The district voted in March of this year to eliminate such penalties, as some teachers were not enforcing the punishments equally.
[Image credit: Coro]
This article was written by Randy Nelson and originally appeared on Tecca
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