Harvard server is hacked, data spread on BitTorrent

Data from 10,000 students who completed Harvard's 2007 course in arts and sciences were hacked and distributed on the Internet, according to the school earlier this week.

It is estimated that information of about 10,000 students may have been disseminated to the Internet with at least 6,600 personal records such as last name, social security number, date of birth, address and email, phone number. , public test scores are exposed. A small amount of personal information of exposed students also includes health indicators, health problems and eating status.

Hackers spread the personal data of students to BitTorrent peer-to-peer networks as a backup file of the GSAS website (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), about 125MB. The file includes details of its directory structure and its three database sections.

According to the owner of the file, the attack on the server and distribution of data to prove the server administration team does not know how to secure a website.

The representative of the GSAS website management team apologized to the whole school for the incident and wished students with information dispersed please sympathize. The school will pay for stolen data recovery services for all relevant subjects.

This makes us think of the attacks of two first-year students on the Oxford computer system server and spread Oxford student data. Students with high technical skills often prove themselves by attacking the server system of the school itself. However, things will go too far if stolen data is spread out. Hieu wins and brags will pay, but this is also a warning to website administrators of large organizations that need to increase the level of security for their server systems and websites.