Former Western Sydney University student charged in cyber attack, data theft and mark alteration case
An attempt to save on parking has allegedly put a university student on a path to altering her marks and threatening to sell other students’ data following a series of cyber attacks.
The 27-year-old woman is due to face court on Thursday after being charged with a slew of fraud and hacking offences.
Police allege she was behind a series of cyber attacks on Western Sydney University, beginning in 2021.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.They say it began with system exploits in an attempt to secure unauthorised discounts for parking on campus.
But it escalated into alterations to her academic results and threats to sell other students’ confidential data on the dark web.
The university suffered a series of hacks involving unauthorised access, data exfiltration, system compromises and unauthorised use of the institution’s infrastructure, police allege.
Hundreds of staff and students were affected.
The former student was arrested as police seized computer equipment and mobile devices during a raid on on a Kingswood unit on Wednesday.
The woman is due to face Penrith Local Court charged with 20 offences including 10 counts of modifying or accessing restricted data.
She is also accused of dishonestly obtaining property and financial advantage by deception.
