Student Hackers Settle Debit-Card Device

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://gainesvillesun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030714/APF/307140992

By MARK NIESSE
Associated Press Writer
July 14. 2003 

Two computer hackers admitted in a settlement Monday that they never
completed a device that could cheat university campus debit card
systems out of food, laundry machine use or sports tickets.

Blackboard Inc., the maker of a vending system used by 223 colleges
nationwide, agreed to drop its lawsuit against Georgia Tech student
Billy Hoffman and University of Alabama student Virgil Griffith.

The settlement requires the students to apologize to Blackboard and
its clients, promise that they never built a transaction processing
system and serve 40 hours community service. The device could
purportedly manipulate the amount of money on a debit card used in the
system.

"They actually didn't do a lot of the things they were claiming to
do," Blackboard spokesman Michael Stanton. "They knew full well the
claims they were making were silly. They're obviously bright young
guys, but a little misguided in where they were focusing their
attention."

Blackboard said the settlement reaffirms that its systems are secure.

Hoffman and Griffith published information about the card reading
system on a Web site, and they planned on talking at a hacker
convention about manipulating university student ID cards for things
like free soft drinks, laundry or access to school buildings.

But Blackboard, based in Washington, got a judge to issue an order
barring them from discussing it.

Hoffman, a 22-year-old computer engineering major, said he and
Griffith wanted to settle rather than fight in court. The settlement
is to be filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday.

In April, Hoffman claimed he broke into a Blackboard card reader at
Georgia Tech because he wanted to expose security flaws in the system.

Georgia Tech asked Hoffman to sign a paper saying he wouldn't break
computer rules again, and he wasn't punished further.

An attorney for Griffith and Hoffman couldn't be reached for comment.



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