The rogue programmer who launched a pre-emptive strike on the Higher School Certificate results, potentially giving more than 66,000 students their results three days early, could face up to 15 years in jail, according to an expert on information technology and the law.
Andrew Mowbray, professor of law and IT at the University of Technology, Sydney, was speaking after a police spokeswoman said yesterday the fraud squad was investigating the unauthorised access to marks.
The Herald reported yesterday that the NSW Board of Studies' Students Online website was programmed to release results at 6am today, but on Tuesday someone spread online a partial replica of the website that allowed students to request their results. Because the coding matched the official website, the board's database granted the request, and 101 students' final marks were accessed before a parent's tip-off led to the information being secured just before midnight on Tuesday.
Professor Mowbray said accessing information online was rarely a crime under present laws, so students were unlikely to be charged for using the counterfeit web page. Those who could be in trouble were "the people who produced the page or published it online ... that's fraud". But as no damage was inflicted and financial gain did not appear to be the motive, the offender might escape with a suspended sentence or community service, he said.
