Grade Changes Could Put Alleged Calif. Student Hacker in Prison, Not College
The case of a high school computer hacker in Orange County, Calif., has attracted international attention, apparently because of the audacity of his alleged grade-changing attacks—and the hefty prison time he could be facing, if convicted.
Omar Khan, 18, faces a prison term of as much as 38 years if convicted of 69 felony counts in connection with allegedly breaking into the computer system of prestigious Tesoro High School in Orange County and changing his grades from Fs to As, according to an article Sunday in the Times, a South African newspaper.
Khan’s alleged hack attack, in order to win admission to college within the University of California system, also was the subject of lengthy articles in the Los Angeles Times and London Times, among other newspapers.
“Prosecutors claim that the teenager, who is alleged to have broken into the school late at night with a stolen master key, also changed the grades of 12 other students, and that he installed spyware on school hard drives that allowed him to access the computers from remote locations,” the London Times recounts.
Attorney Carol Lavacot, who represents Khan, describes him as a “really nice kid,” notes the Los Angeles newspaper.
“We’re really sad and disappointed that the charges have been filed against these students,” Beverly De Nicola, a spokeswoman for the Capistrano Unified School District, tells the Los Angeles Times. “We have been cooperating with law enforcement and we have taken our own serious disciplinary actions based on our own investigation… . I haven’t seen a situation like this in our school district ever.”
Khan is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Another student is facing lesser charges in the alleged hack attack.
