The baccalaureate, the SAT, the LSAT, the BAR exam, and all other standardized exams are battles of mental attrition that test our discipline and ability to learn and ____. These events, with their hundreds of hours of preparation and ability to dictate entire prospects of one’s future, are effectively a consensual nightmare that we’ve all experienced. I, for one, still have nightmares over past exams. In the case of a 17-year-old teenager from Iowa, exam-induced PST was not an option. Instead, he hired hackers to commence a wide-scale Distributed Denial of Service and disrupt the entire examination procedure.
The cyberattack systematically disrupted not just Eagle High School, where the teen — whose name is withheld on account of his status as a minor — is a student, but 50 other schools in the West Ada County School District.
The attack lasted an entire week, not only blocking access to online resources such as textbooks and classes (I didn’t know high schools have online classes), but also causing the administrative systems to lose some of their data — a questionable outcome, given DDoS attacks cannot delete information. His week-long escapade forced schools to re-administer the test on several counts.
“Our ability to access the internet would just stop,” said Eric Exline, spokesperson for the West Ada School District. The cyber attacks have been affecting the school district’s computer systems for the last week and a half.”
For reasons undisclosed, the Ada County Sheriff’s office is convinced of the teen’s guilt, stating he risks being charged with a felony for computer crime, an offence punishable by up to 180 days in a juvenile detention center. He is also suspended and risks expulsion from the institute. The boy’s parents are also being held responsible for any financial restitution suffered by the school.
Investigator’s narrowed in one the suspect by tracing the attack back to the student’s IP.
Source: Geek.com
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