Birmingham student caught hacking into university computer

A bio-science student from Balsall Heath has been given a four-month prison sentence, after jury members found him guilty of trying to fix his exam grades by illegally tapping into his university’s computer system.

The University of Birmingham student, named Imran Uddin, was found to  have stolen passwords from staff members, which he used to log in to the system and improve his results by five grades. He increased one result from 57% to 73%.

However, he was sentenced by the Birmingham Crown Court after he confessed six charges of failing to adhere to the Computer Misuse Act.

Uddin was told by Judge James Burbidge:

“For reasons not entirely clear to me, whether it was monetary, or pride or a desire to outperform others, you decided to cheat and you formed a settled intention to do that. I consider your actions were planned and persistent.”

Uddin hacked into multiple university computers before being caught by staff members during routine maintenance, which was carried out in October last year. They found three devices that had been subjected to Uddin’s tampering.

During a search of Uddin’s home, the police discovered that he had been searching for keyloggers on eBay, and that he had attempted to access his university’s marking system.

It was a fortunate way for the university to discover what Uddin had done, which isn’t ideal. To search for any security holes, to prevent either customers or employees from abusing a system in any organisation, it is always wise to open up cyber security jobs. Those trained to recognise when someone is trying to take advantage can effectively safeguard that organisation’s future.