• Show

Hacker's Fifth of November Prank Interrupts Classes at Washington State University

November 8th, 2010

Students at Washington State University will likely remember the Fifth of November this year, as on Friday, a hacker going by the alias "V" infiltrated the school's Academic Media Services system to interrupt classes with a video broadcast message.

The message greeted students in over two dozen classrooms on campus. The video imitates a scene from V from Vendetta, and in it the masked insurgent encourages students to break free from the "comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition" - and to rise up against squirrels on campus.

By hacking into the university's media services, "V" was able to project the video via the school's distance-learning technology. Classroom systems were fully functional, except during the first five minutes of every hour, when the message was repeated until the hacker shut it off at 5 pm.

The university administration was quick to assure the public that no student personal or financial records were compromised. Even so, officials has seen this as a serious breach of the system, and WSU Police and other agencies are investigating, according to the student newspaper The Daily Evergreen.

The hacker remains at large, but he did send a message to the newspaper, saying that the "I have been told that the police are after me. I am and was aware of this possibility; they're only trying to do their job. If I did my job, they will have a very difficult time finding me. I just hope they realize I'm not worth the effort. There are real criminals out there; they deserve far more attention than I."

"V" said that he wanted the act to be seen as more than merely a prank, and hopes that students wake up from their apathy. But whether or not his insurrectionary message made an impact, he says there will be no further video interruptions.

But I guess we'll have to see what happens one year from now, on the Fifth of November, on the lawns of Washington State University. Beware squirrels?

Tags:
comments powered by Disqus