Hacking

And The Law

Please read all of the links that follow. All answers are in the articles. Student computer usage may be governed by federal law, state codes, or local school district policies. Your answers must come from the articles to earn credit.

1) Kevin Mitnick is a computer hacker that has received plenty of media attention. What technique did Kevin Mitnick use as a hacker? What was his motivation for hacking?

2) Justin Boucher, a Greenfield High School student, wrote and handed out at school an underground newspaper that described how to hack school computers. What right did Justin believe allowed him to make such bold statements? What was the school’s stance?

3) A Dearborn, Michigan school says a student hacked into a school web site and altered a couple of pages. His pages displayed pornography and he made malicious comments about school employees. What is the maximum penalty under Michigan state law that this teen faces? What occupation does he plan to pursue?

4) A 16-year-old Bay High School student was arrested for hacking into the school’s media center servers where he deleted files and filled the drive with a self-duplicating program. Who was affected by the hacking of these students? If you were the school district trying to reclaim losses, what costs would you try to pin on the students? How did these students gain access into the system? What common courteous should you observe when someone is logging into a computer?

5) Justin Sabon, a student at Richmond High School in Michigan, was charged with hacking after running a “password cracking” program on a school computer. Many hackers feel it is okay to test the security of a network without the intent any intent of using the information gained. What was the father’s reaction? What do you think? Are the other students that were given the passwords guilty of any wrong doings?

6) A Rhinelander, Wisconsin student decided to test out district virus software by bringing in 89 viruses and unleash them on the network. What charges and fines did this student face?

7) Joshua Mortimer left a screensaver message that “The end is near” on a school computer. Was it a joke? Was it a threat? What leads you to your conclusion?