These 2 men got hit hard.  With charges of unauthorized computer access, identity theft, conspiracy, and wire fraud, they could face up to 20 years in prison and $250k in fines.  That may sound like a little overkill, but all of those charges are really affiliated with altering grades: broadly speaking, you have to access a system that belongs to the university, take the identity of a faculty member, and change the grades to make it happen, all of which are the charges affiliated with changing grades.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the student only thought they would be charged with unauthorized access but as you can see, it is much more than that.

Two California men are facing 20 years in prison on charges they hacked into a California state university’s PeopleSoft system to change their grades.

In an October 25 grand jury indictment, John Escalera, 29, and Gustavo Razo, 28, were charged with using Escalera’s position within California State University, Fresno’s IT help desk center to gain access to the university’s grades database.

The men could face 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines if convicted of the eleven counts on the indictment, which includes charges of unauthorized computer access, identity theft, conspiracy, and wire fraud.

Though they are charged with identity theft, a university spokeswoman could not immediately say whether or not sensitive information such as social security numbers had been compromised during the crime.[more]

Tags: Hackers, Identity Theft