Remember the scene in War Games when Matthew Broderick hacked into his school’s computer system to change not only his grades, but Ally Sheedy’s?
A second University of Central Florida student has been arrested for hacking an engineering professor’s office computer to change his grades. Samuel Williams, 25, is accused of changing grades on four online quizzes that he never completed.
Williams’ comrade-in-arms, Sami Ammar, 21, who also hacked into the system on May 4, was charged in late May, The Orlando Sentinel reported.
Just before midnight on May 4, Ammar’s Electronics I professor, Chung Young Chan, received a confirmation email from the program he used to log students’ grades. But he had already approved his grades and received a confirmation email. Chan checked the grading roster and noticed that Ammar, to whom he gave an F, now had a B. When Chan attempted to change the grade back he got an error message. .
An IT employee at the university later traced the IP address for the computer where the grade was altered to the Mathematical Sciences Building. An employee at the university called UCF police and said two men he did not recognize had been walking around the Mathematical Sciences Building. Surveillance camera footage showed them inside. Ammar was identified.
The Sentinel reported in late May:
Officers also identified the other man in the video but have not been able to speak with him. The other man’s father told police that he would be leaving for California soon and could not speak with them. The other man is not facing charges.
Video of Broderick below: