Case of CBE breach by hacker adjourned
Teen who accessed records in court Aug. 28
The lawyer for a 15- year- old boy charged last month with allegedly hacking into Calgary Board of Education servers over a five- month period appeared in youth court on Thursday.
The teen, who was represented by lawyer Joel Chevrefils, allegedly used only a computer with Internet access to get into the school system’s files, according to police.
The case was adjourned until Aug. 28 in order for Crown prosecutor Nadine Nesbitt to obtain disclosure and turn it over to the defence.
The boy faces five criminal charges relating to impersonation and unlawful access to data and computer systems, which carry the possibility of jail time.
City police Staff Sgt. Ryan Jepson of the electronic surveillance unit said at the time the offence would not require a high degree of sophistication.
Police have alleged the youth used phishing emails and false credentials to gain access to “personal and corporate information.”
They say the suspect notified media outlets of the breach in March.
“The individual obviously decided that he needed to make somebody aware,” said Jepson.
“We don’t know if that was motivated by a personal reason or what exactly.”
Police say a “complex” investigation took place after media outlets contacted them about the incident.
They executed a search warrant and arrested the teenager, who can’t be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The boy has been released on bail and will appear in court again on Aug. 20.
The offences allegedly occurred between November 2014 and March 2015, though police are unsure exactly how many times the server was illegally accessed or what the motive was for doing so.
Jepson declined to provide details on exactly what kind of data was taken and how it was done. The Herald reported in March that the information included student grades and e- mail addresses, but Jepson said he didn’t know what was done with the stolen information.
He declined to comment on the thoroughness of the security measures the CBE had in place at the time of the incident, but said parents and students affected by the breach were notified.