{"id":18753,"date":"2012-07-31T21:02:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T01:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2021-08-11T17:48:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T21:48:13","slug":"mommy-hacker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/mommy-hacker\/","title":{"rendered":"Mommy Hacker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mommy<\/a>Time Magazine<\/em> reports<\/a> that a Pennsylvania woman faces six felony charges<\/strong> for hacking<\/strong> the computer system at her kids’ schools<\/strong>. Catherine Venusto, 45, hacked into the Northwestern Lehigh School District<\/a> computer system and altered the grades of her two children<\/strong>, ABC News<\/a><\/em> reports. Venusto had worked at the district as an administrative office secretary from 2008 through April 2011. A year before she quit, Venusto, of New Tripoli<\/a>, PA had been accused be being a hacker. She reportedly changed her daughter\u2019s failing grade to a medical exception. And in February 2012, she was accused of changing her son\u2019s 98 to a 99.<\/p>\n

Third-degree felonies<\/h3>\n

\"DataMs. Venusto was arraigned on three counts of unlawful use of a computer. <\/strong>She was also charged with three counts of computer trespassing<\/strong> and altering data. All six of those charges are third-degree felonies<\/strong>. Pennsylvania State police<\/a> say Venusto admitted changing the grades, saying she thought her actions were unethical but not illegal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When ABCNews.com<\/em><\/a> attempted to contact Ms. Venusto at her current job as an event co\u00f6rdinator at Lehigh University<\/a>, a school employee said her employment ended Wednesday. Venusto’s lawyer, Thomas Carroll, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\"Grades\"<\/a>“I’m concerned on numerous levels<\/em>,” said Jennifer Holman, Northwestern Lehigh School District’s assistant superintendent. “When we say systems, there were three different systems violated\u2026There were 10 different users that at some point had their email violated.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

PA State police investigate the hacker<\/h3>\n

Ms. Holman told ABCNews.com<\/em> that she first realized something was wrong when a teacher asked why superintendent Mary Ann Wright was in that teacher’s online grade book. Once Wright explained she was never in the grade book the investigation began. Administrators and state police looked for whoever used Wright’s username and password without permission<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Bad<\/a>PA State police discovered Venusto used Wright’s credentials 110 times to access the district’s online grading system, according to the District Attorney’s office. Venusto also allegedly accessed nine other faculty members’ email accounts<\/strong> without permission. She also accessed the human resources “H-drive” to view “thousands of files associated with district policy, contract information, employee reports, and personnel issues<\/strong>.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

Superintendent Wright released a statement in anticipation of Venusto’s arraignment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>“We deeply regret this incident and that this unauthorized access occurred, and we sincerely regret any inconvenience this may cause,<\/em>” Wright wrote<\/a>. “We are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening again, and new security procedures are in place to better assure that our systems are protected from such attempts.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

The court set bail at $30,000. Venusto will not have to pay the bail unless she does not appear in court for her preliminary hearing. Venusto could face a maximum of 42 years in prison or a $90,000 fine<\/strong>, according to District Attorney’s office spokeswoman Debbie Garlicki, who said the maximum penalty on each count is seven years or a $15,000 fine.<\/p>\n

rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"NewThe mommy hacker’s defense is “I thought it was immoral but not illegal”. I will mention in passing the declining parenting standards which are creating a bunch of narcissistic and self-absorbed generation that has no consciousness to what right and wrong is.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Administration and IT departments both bear the blame for this intrusion. Some easy-to-implement best practices could have shut the mommy hacker down quicker. They should have required regular password changes. They could have broken the bank and installed an intrusion protection system<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Those of us who work in K-12 understand that security is only important after an incident.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ralph Bach<\/a>\u00a0has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his\u00a0Bach Seat<\/a> about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. Email the Bach Seat\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PA hacker mom charged with 6 felonies for altering her kids’ grades by stealing her boss’s password says she thought her actions were unethical but not illegal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2197,125,2483,128,209,1334,1186,4],"class_list":["post-18753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","tag-2197","tag-data-breach","tag-insider-threat","tag-k12","tag-password","tag-pennsylvania","tag-school-data-breach","tag-security"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t