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Student Charged By FBI For Hacking His Grades More Than 90 times (sophos.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: In college, you can use your time to study. Or then again, you could perhaps rely on the Hand of God. And when I say "Hand of God," what I really mean is "keylogger." Think of it like the "Nimble Fingers of God." "Hand of God" (that makes sense) and "pineapple" (???) are two of the nicknames allegedly used to refer to keyloggers used by a former University of Iowa wrestler and student who was arrested last week on federal computer-hacking charges in a high-tech cheating scheme. According to the New York Times, Trevor Graves, 22, is accused in an FBI affidavit of working with an unnamed accomplice to secretly plug keyloggers into university computers in classrooms and in labs. The FBI says keyloggers allowed Graves to record whatever his professors typed, including credentials to log into university grading and email systems. Court documents allege that Graves intercepted exams and test questions in advance and repeatedly changed grades on tests, quizzes and homework assignments. This went on for 21 months -- between March 2015 and December 2016. The scheme was discovered when a professor noticed that a number of Graves' grades had been changed without her authorization. She reported it to campus IT security officials.
>> when I say "Hand of God," what I really mean is "keylogger." Think of it like the "Nimble Fingers of God." "Hand of God" (that makes sense)
Hey, um, "Nimble Fingers" is a dangerous thing to type into a search bar. And no one has used that phrase in a SFW setting since 1978.
>> and "pineapple" (???)
Prolly this: https://www.wifipineapple.com/
Hired by the FBI? For what skill? Being able to connect a USB device between a USB port and a USB keyboard?
For being a sociopath, and willing to do whatever it takes to win, without annoyances like conscience or dignity to get in the way.
Silly mistakes are silly. Kid had access to the test banks and answers. He could have easily memorized the correct answers.
Even if he failed the test, he could have corrupted everyone else's grades to obscure the fact that he was doing it.
If you're going to commit any sort of computer forgery, make sure you spread the love far and wide so even unrelated students in completely different classes have their grades changed. There would be absolutely no way they would be able to find him in this instance.
Only the stupid get caught.
It's not like the classes jocks take are difficult either.
Bet he was a communications major.
The article did state that grades were changed in business, engineering and chemistry classes. There may have been grades changed in Earth Science 101: "Rocks for Jocks" too. It sounds like he was selling his services to other students, which is just asking to get caught.
Changing grades on the computer is just stupid, IMHO, since it's not like the instructors don't keep paper records. Had he stuck to copying exams and answer keys then he might have gotten away with it, at least long enough to graduate. Or at least add enough doubt as to who did what when that no one would call the FBI on him. But then people that resort to cheating on exams aren't typically that bright.
What I have to ponder is why the FBI was involved. This was a state facility, not a federal one. Doesn't every state have their own investigation service? As a state university they'll have their own police force, with a direct line to said state investigation office. What federal law was broken? Not that this seems to matter any more, I remember an assault case that made national news. The FBI got involved for some reason. When asked why the FBI was there the answer floored me, the scissors used to cut the victim's hair came from out of state so this was an investigation of "interstate commerce" as defined in the US Constitution. If that's the bar that has to be hurdled then everything is a federal case. Some kid steals a candy bar and the FBI is there because he was wearing shoes made in China.
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