A Laurentian University student is under investigation for gaining access into his school's private computer data base, but he wasn't exactly caught in the breach. He reported it himself.
25-year-old Spencer Brydges works on his studies from home these days.
The computer science student said Laurentian banned him from campus, after he breached the school's online database.
He told CTV he saw vulnerabilities in the system, then reported it to the school and I.T. department.
“No, this is not malicious,” said Brydges.
But, the university doesn't see it that way.
“This is not a simple checking of the security system,” said Alex Freedman, Laurentian University chief of staff.
“Without going into details, this was something more problematic. There is a reason authorities have been brought into this case and we are going to let them do their work.”
Freedman said 2,000 members of the university - including students, staff and faculty - had personal information accessed; including passwords and grades.
Freedman said the school has since updated its security measures to prevent this from happening again and an investigation by a third-party computer forensic firm said it’s unlikely any information was shared.
Brydges said he's disappointed with how the school has handled the breach. He said it would have been worse if a hacker with malicious intentions would have released the information.
“It's my data, too,” he said. “I want to see my data be secure, in addition to everyone else’s, of course"
An owner of a Sudbury I.T. company told CTV if someone breached his data and reported it to him, he would compensate that person. He said they are known as white hat hackers
“They will go out and find problems with software and disclose to the organization and get a reward,” said Sam Vaughan, Haxxess Enterprise Corporation.
As the investigation continues, Brydges said he expects to graduate next month, but doesn't plan to attend convocation.
