The People's Court of Shenyang Economic and Technological Development Zone in Liaoning Province recently announced its verdict on a rare case involving hackers infiltrating a university network to illegally alter students' grades. Two university student hackers from Liaoning and Fujian provinces infiltrated the teaching management system of a university in Shenyang, changing the grades of 16 university students from failing to passing, and thus profited 138,000 yuan. The court sentenced the two defendants to probation in the first trial for the crime of destroying computer information systems and confiscated their illegal gains.
Min Tao, aged 22, is a currently enrolled student at a university in Shenyang. Seeing frequent complaints from classmates about failing exams on the school alumni directory and chat rooms, he came up with the idea of [making money by altering grades]. Coincidentally, he met through a chat tool Ye Houben, a student from a university in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, who promised to change exam scores but would charge a fee. Min Tao then decided to act as an intermediary, letting Ye provide [technical support] and make money together.
After investigation, the court found that since the start of school in early March last year, Min Tao posted online forum messages stating that he could handle [failing subjects] at his university and left contact phone numbers. Soon, students contacted Min Tao through the phone number left online. From March to August 2011, he received a total of 138,000 yuan in "grade modification fees" from 15 students. Subsequently, according to the information provided by Min Tao, Ye Houben used the computer internet to illegally infiltrate the teaching management system of a university in Shenyang multiple times, modifying the makeup exam results of 20 courses for 16 students (including Min Tao) at the school, changing failing scores to passing scores. Ye Houben obtained illegal earnings of 13,000 yuan from this.
In September last year, after discovering that the teaching management system had been infiltrated, the aforementioned university in Shenyang reported it to the police. By the end of the same month, Min Tao and Ye Houben were successively arrested.
The court believed that Min Tao and Ye Houben had modified operations on data stored and processed in the computer information system, constituting the crime of destroying computer information systems. Considering the good confessions and repentance attitudes of the two defendants after being apprehended, their good behavior during school, and being first-time offenders who actively returned all stolen money, Min Tao was sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year reprieve, while Ye Houben was sentenced to three years in prison with a three-year reprieve. Both individuals' illegal gains were also confiscated. Xinhua News Agency Source: http://www.taichuan.cc