There were also changes made to the class schedules of about 300 students, which is how the school first noticed something was going on.
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Suffolk County Police arrested three Commack High School students in connection with unauthorized access of the district’s computer system during which student grades and schedules were changed.
Soares and his partners in crime, Eric Vaysman and Alex Mosquera, both 17, were arrested on Tuesday.
Daniel Soares has been labeled as the “mastermind” by the investigators who uncovered the successful hacking attempt.
Detectives say Soares changed several of his grades and at least one for Vaysman, who is charged with one count of third-degree computer tampering and one count of fourth-degree criminal solicitation.
Authorities have accused Soares of attaching a device known as a keylogger to the keyboard of a school computer, allowing him to steal passwords that he later allegedly used to access the system. Officials were able to track the hack to Soares’ home.
“We would consider Daniel to be the ringleader”.
“Once the breach was discovered, password protection safeguards and network protocols prevented further access to the data management system, and no further private or personal information was accessed”, the school district said in a statement.
Law enforcement officials added that the other two students were aware of the hacking but did not enter the school building. According to Newsday, he also improved the grades of Erick Vaysman.
“He felt he should have had a higher grade in a particular class. And requested Daniel make the change”, said Best.
The teenagers, all seniors at Commack High School, allegedly breached the system in July.
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When the police turned up the primary accused house, he had disappeared, but returned about a week later and was arraigned. “He came up with the idea and brought the other two guys in on it”, Sydney Pasquarella, a 16-year-old Commack junior told the Post. SCPD Alex Mosquera, 17, of East Northport, Long Island, was charged with computer trespass and fourth-degree criminal solicitation.
