The Tampa Bay Times recently reported on a 14-year-old, eighth grader in Florida, Domanik Green, who was charged with a felony for “hacking” his teacher’s computer. The “hacking” in this instance was using a widely known password to change the desktop background of his teacher’s computer with an image of two men kissing. The outrage of being charged with a felony for what essentially amounts to a misguided prank should be familiar to those who follow how computer crimes are handled by our justice system.

Usually, when it comes to bad laws related to computer hacking, or unauthorized access, the focus is the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). However, this instance highlights that many states have their own version of the federal statute, with their own overbroad and insensible language, including Florida.

In fact, the Florida statute is even harsher than the CFAA. A lowest level offense under CFAA (1030(c)(2)(A)) is a misdemeanor, but in Florida, the lowest level offense (815.06(2)(A)) is a felony. Furthermore, the Florida statute also neglects to define what “authorized” or “unauthorized” means, and under these facts a reasonable person may think they are authorized if the passwords had been widely used by students.

Students who are looking to attend St. Petersburg College and pursue a course of study in the Information Technology field, can benefit greatly from programs such as the IT Security or Programming Associate in Science degrees or Certificates.

“To protect systems from malicious software, one needs to understand how the software is coded,” said Brad Yourth, Professor of SPC’s College of Computer & Information Technology (CCIT).

He strongly believes that this article and the ones that follow in the series would definitely drive students toward the IT security program in the near future.

An excerpt from a recent FBI press release provides details about a recent security investigation St. Petersburg College’s I.T. Security students might find interesting:

“On April 8, 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force-International Cyber Crime Coordination Cell (IC4) coordinated with the Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), and the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit, along with private sector partners in their targeted takedown of the Beebone (also known as AAEH) botnet. Beebone acted as a “downloader,” which installed other forms of malicious software on victims’ computers without their consent or knowledge. The secondary infections installed by Beebone include software that steals banking logins and passwords, as well as fraudulent anti-virus software and ransomware.

Investigators are in the process of determining the number of victims in the United States and around the world that have been impacted by this botnet.”

Read the rest of this article on Botnet investigation.

An excerpt from a recent FBI website update provides details about a court case St. Petersburg College’s I.T. Security students might find interesting: 

LOS ANGELES—A member of the SwaggSec hacking group was sentenced today to three years in federal prison for participating in a series of computer attacks that compromised computer systems at DirecTV, Farmers Insurance and the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

Mario Patrick Chuisano, 32, of Staten Island, New York, who used the online monikers “fame” and “infam0us,” was sentenced this morning in Los Angeles by United States District Judge S. James Otero.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Otero ordered Chuisano to pay $2,662,438.80 in restitution to the three victims.

Chuisano pleaded guilty in June 2014 to conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer, as well as to possession of an unregistered firearm, namely a sawed-off shotgun. In addition to the sawed-off shotgun that was discovered in Chuisano’s residence during the execution of a search warrant, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered an unregistered handgun, brass knuckles, and equipment that could be used to manufacture counterfeit credit and debit cards, according to court documents.

Read the rest of this article on Hacking Group sentencing.