Email phishing is no doubt the most common thing nowadays widely responsible for cyber attacks and unauthorized accessing strategies includes it to be the most famous and favorite way. As it is being always thought to be used by professional hackers this time we have something unusual and a mere 16-year-old student optimally using this technique for his benefit.
David Rotaro, a student at Ygnacio Valley High School in the Bay Area, is accused of sending manipulative emails to teachers to trick them into clicking on a link that redirected them to a fake page he had created to mimic the school’s official teacher portal.
David Rotaro a 16-year-old high school student from California was arrested on Wednesday on 14 felony counts associated with a phishing scheme he allegedly launched against teachers in his school district. The investigation that led to the arrest was a joint effort by local law enforcement, Contra Costa County task force and the Secret Service.
The teen told the ABC7 News that hacking into the school’s grading system was stealing the candy from a baby it just took him 5 minutes to create a fake page and send out a phishing email “He was charged with crimes ranging from unauthorized use of entering network to personal info,” said Sgt. Carl Cruz of the Concord police. “I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say,” Rotaro responded. He says he wanted to also point out the school’s vulnerability. “I did kind of want to give awareness to cybersecurity,” Rotaro told ABC7 News.
Once in the system, he raised or lowered the grades – including his own and up to 15 other students. Officials obtained search warrants for IP addresses linked to the malicious site and traced it to the student’s address.
This student isn’t the first to try to phish his way to an “A.” Others in New Jersey, New York, Alabama, and Louisiana have previously launched similar campaigns too.
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