Boston Latin teen is accused of hacking
Officials say he got into teacher's files
Boston police, with the aid of the US Secret Service, are investigating a Boston Latin School junior on allegations that he hacked into a teacher's computer and gained access to confidential material, including tests and student records.
School officials said the student, whom they declined to name, maintained remote access to the teacher's computer for four months, using passwords he obtained with software that recorded the teacher's keystrokes when logging on. With the teacher's passwords, the student was able to access the teacher's computer files from other computers at the school, they said.
The student looked at questions on at least one upcoming test, an exam for an advanced-placement course, school and city officials said. They believe he shared the questions with several other students, but it remained unclear the extent that he used other information he saw, the officials said. The student was able to access student records, including his own, but it did not appear that any grades had been changed, the officials said.
The school is also investigating the possible roles of several other students implicated by the student as accepting test questions.
The student, who faces a disciplinary hearing next week, could be expelled, officials said. He could also face criminal prosecution on charges that include trespassing, unauthorized use of a computer, and interception of a wire or oral communication, authorities said.
Because he is a juvenile, the maximum penalty would be confinement in a Department of Youth Services facility until he is 18, they said.
School officials first learned of the situation in November, when they received an anonymous e-mail from a
On March 9, school officials notified police and initiated a check of all the school's computers for evidence of hacking. Officials said keystroke-recording software was discovered on several computers at the school.
Officials contend that the student also hacked those computers but that no sensitive information appeared to have been accessed.
Several computers were seized, including the youth's home computer, officials said, and the school was forced to shut down its computer network for several days. School officials instituted new security measures, officials said, updating antivirus software that could detect hackers and advising teachers to change passwords often.
One official characterized the student as ''a technically brilliant kid who got carried away and did something very stupid."
But the allegations have shaken some students and faculty at the nation's oldest, and one of its most prestigious, public high schools, where the students are subjected to rigorous academic regimens and compete to enter the most elite colleges.
''It drives me crazy because we work so hard," said Jo Werba, a 17-year-old junior. ''It made me upset. When you see people getting the same grades as people who studied all night because they are cheating it's upsetting."
It has raised new worries about the extent of cheating at the school, where a group of parents, teachers, and students recently organized an honor code committee to ''put the stigma back into cheating" because of perceptions that it has become widespread, said one parent who asked not to be identified.
Parents expressed concerns that school officials never notified parents, even as rumors began circulating among students.
''I'm concerned that the school community -- parents, students, and teachers -- have not been notified," said Peggy Wiesenberg, who is a member of the Boston Latin School parent council and serves on the board of the Citywide Parents Council. ''The school should be using this as a teachable moment."
Several wondered why the student has remained in school.
''The kid must be afforded the opportunity to go through a process and to have representation," said Michael Contompasis, the school department's chief operating officer. ''They wanted to make certain they crossed the T's and dotted the I's."
Some students were offended by the alleged hacking, but others were blasé or even impressed.
''Those kids are heroes," one student's father said his daughter told him.
A parent involved with the honor code committee said: ''The kids are furious about the ones who cheat. The kids are so ambitious, they're so achievement-oriented, and the barometer for achievement is what school you're going to get into . . . they get swept away in the whole thing."
Suzanne Smalley and Cristina Silva of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. 
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
