University Hacker Sent to Prison

A student who hacked into a British university’s computer network and produced thousands of pounds by providing the responses to examinations has been sentenced to prison.

Hayder Aljayyash, who is 29 and was born in Iraq, was welcomed into the UK as an asylum seeker. Involving November 2017 and Could 2019, Aljayyash illegally accessed the computer method of the University of South Wales exactly where he had been studying for a master’s diploma in embedded technique design and style. 

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Aljayyash experienced utilized “very sophisticated” cyber-criminal techniques to cover his digital intrusion for 18 months. 

Suspicions that a knowledge breach experienced occurred at the university ended up aroused when arithmetic lecturer Liam Harris discovered a range of learners had answered exam concerns with equivalent answers. 5 of the pupils even gave answers that contained the very same typing blunders incorporated in the authentic working papers. 

To verify the extent of the info breach, the university processed somewhere around 140 million login information. Their investigation led them to an IP tackle linked to a home in Treforest the place Aljayyash was dwelling with 30-calendar year-old housemate and fellow scholar Noureldien Ektarki. 

Libyan national Ektarki pleaded guilty to helping Aljayyash market the unlawfully received examination responses to learners.

Aljayyash was arrested by police on May possibly 30, 2019. Prosecuting barrister Jim Davis stated that a research of Aljayyash’s USB sticks and notebook uncovered “numerous data files which matched all those downloaded as section of the college breach.”

It was established that Aljayyash experienced acquired the login specifics of university staff members using a key logging device, and experienced utilised them to accessibility the network practically 700 times. 

Aljayyash downloaded 216 information from the college, including test papers, marking, studies, and coursework. By promoting copies of the illegally received files, Aljayyash created around $27K.

Investigating the incident, getting the culprit, and employing new cybersecurity steps price the university all around $138K. 

Aljayyash pleaded responsible to two counts of committing an act to impair dependability of facts in a personal computer and a few counts of acquiring articles by unauthorized obtain to desktops. He was sentenced to 20 months in jail. 

Ektarki was provided a nine-thirty day period suspended sentence and ordered to comprehensive 200 hrs of unpaid get the job done soon after pleading guilty to funds laundering and transferring criminal home. 

Some areas of this article are sourced from:
www.infosecurity-magazine.com