Student hacker blames teacher

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

Forwarded by: Stuart Sabel <stuarts () seanet com>

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=hacker15m&date=20001215

By Nick Provenza
Seattle Times assistant metro editor
Friday, December 15, 2000

A 15-year-old student at Elma High School swears he only did what his
teacher asked.

The school administration says he broke the rules.

Authorities say he broke the law.

Dad says the whole thing stinks.

The student, Aaron Lutes, was booted from his sophomore computer class
at the 760-student high school and is appealing a five-day suspension
for hacking into a classroom computer's security software and
disabling it.

He also was hauled off to the Elma police station and held briefly for
investigation of unauthorized use of a computer to access government
information.

All involved agree young Lutes did not gain access to any files and
caused no damage.

The Lutes family and the district also acknowledge that Lutes'
computer-science teacher, Giovanni Colombo, told students they'd get a
reward from the software company if they cracked the security system
and that Colombo wanted a 10 percent cut of that reward.

But here's the rub: How serious was Colombo when he said it?

While adults in this Grays Harbor County town might have detected a
tongue-in-cheek quality in the teacher's words, it's clear not all
15-year-old boys would. Elma School Supt. Bill Myhr, duly noting that
the issue was confidential, did say that while some students took the
challenge seriously, it wasn't intended that way.

"My son had lots of plans for living the good life (from the reward
money)," said Aaron Lutes' father, Mike. "I can see an adult
questioning what the teacher said, but not a bunch of 15-year-old
kids."

What happened to Aaron was unfair, he said, and he wants the
suspension nixed

"My son accomplished what the teacher had asked him to do," Lutes
said. "When he told the teacher about it ... he expected praise and a
reward. ... The next day, Aaron was hauled out of class and
reprimanded."

On Dec. 5, Lutes used a computer in Colombo's class to bypass a
security system designed to keep students from going where they aren't
supposed to go. He did it on only one computer and quickly logged out,
his father said.

Teacher Colombo couldn't be reached for comment, but someone answering
the phone at his home described the whole thing as silly.

Myhr said there are "other aspects" to the story, but the school
district has chosen "not to bring them out at this time."

He did acknowledge that Aaron Lutes was disciplined last year for
using a school computer to call up inappropriate Web sites.

Aaron's father said the district is being unreasonable, and that's why
the five-day suspension is being appealed.

"The teacher was probably trying to get the students interested in
computers and invited them to do it," he said. "He gave them a
challenge, probably thinking they couldn't do it and didn't think of
the ramifications of what might happen if they did do it."

The security software company has said it isn't aware of any reward
for anyone hacking into its software.

The prosecutor handling the case in the Grays Harbor County
juvenile-court system couldn't be reached for comment, but the Luteses
said yesterday they were told earlier this week any criminal charge
against Aaron would be dropped.

ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com
---
To unsubscribe email LISTSERV () SecurityFocus com with a message body of
"SIGNOFF ISN".