Hi,

Hackers are claiming online they can break into computer systems belonging
to universities and certification institutes and change the scores of
students.

An online search in Chinese of "hackers editing scores" results in dozens of
pages of hits. The hackers say they can change students' scores for a price
- and charge between a few thousand yuan and more than 10,000 yuan for the
illegal service, depending on the majors and universities involved.

A person answering the phone at one such site, who refused to reveal his
name, told METRO he had helped several students. The slogan of his website
was: "If you did badly in an examination, come to our hacker team."

When asked whether he could change the score for a failed subject at the
University of International Business and Economics, he said it would not be
a problem after checking out the university's homepage.

The man was very cautious and asked for the caller's "student number" before
he would reveal the price.

According to the hacker, the operation takes between one and five working
days and the price for a change to a single subject would be 1,600 yuan. The
man claimed his team took care of every detail and would sign a
confidentiality agreement with their customers after successfully breaking
into the system and changing the score.

"Be careful to keep it secret during the deal," he warned. "If you show off
to others, your score could be problematic."

A postgraduate student from the University of International Business and
Economics, surnamed Li, said such services were very tempting to college
students. He said he was disappointed with his score in Spanish last
semester because it dragged down his average.

"Companies pay much attention to the scores applicants had in college when
recruiting," he said. "Especially the State-owned ones."

Although he was tempted by the thought of having a better grade, he said he
would not go to a hacker because he was concerned about the high price and
possible consequences if the school found out.

Yu Xinwei, an expert in network security, said editing scores is technically
possible.

"It depends on what means the hacker uses," he said. "The system records all
regular operating, but if the hacker invades it by other means, such as by
using its bugs without the system noticing, it could be possible not to
leave any evidence of the change."

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