Official: a student hacked an account to alter grades

A University of Georgia business student and technology services employee hacked into a professor’s account to change his grades, a campus official said.

Michael Lamon Williams, 21, “abused his privileges as an employee and changed grades to benefit himself,” UGA spokesman Greg Trevor said in a statement sent to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Williams, who has withdrawn from the university, is facing 71 counts of computer forgery and nine counts of computer trespass, according to the UGA police report.

The hack was reported to police Jan. 20. The victim was an assistant professor in the UGA business school, according to the report.

The instructor told police that when he tried to log on to his UGA email account two days before, he was locked out.

He discovered his password had been changed, according to police. The victim was told the problem was because of “a targeted and deliberate attack against his account,” according to police.

Warrants were obtained against Williams on Monday, and he has surrendered, police said.

“The university is conducting a comprehensive review of its practices to make the necessary improvements to prevent this from reoccurring,” Trevor said.