Effects of security breaches in computers

A school in Hampshire, England was the victim of a breach in information security

On March , 2011. Thousands of personal records were exposed after a student hacked

into the school’s systems.  The attack was immediately reported to the schools information

commissioners office, and as a consequence, the headmaster of the school must announce a

public apology to the victims of the attack. According to the (ICO), details of nearly 20,000

individuals were put at risk during the attack, 7,000 of which were students. Files hacked

from the schools website included medical information about students as well as information

about parents and teachers. The way the student hacked the schools website and

administrative systems was made easier because a staff member used the same password to

access both the schools website, and its administrative systems. The school stated that it

had advised the staff to avoid using duplicate passwords but didn’t enforce this policy. The

goal of the hacker was to gain unauthorized access to the schools records ad detailed personal

information of other students. The cause of the attack stemmed from school staff members

disregarding a computer password policy. Although it is more difficult to remember multiple

passwords, David Emm, a senior security researcher, offered a solution. A password manager

application, which creates and memorizes all passwords and stores them behind a single

password was suggested by Mr.Emm.  Unfortunately, security breaches are becoming a

major problem across the world because of using duplicate passwords. In my opinion,

the attack of the Hampshire school could’ve been avoided if their pre-existing password

policy had been strongly enforced by the school. The other way I think this attack could’ve

been avoided would’ve been by having the school staff members be required to have some

type of background involving computer security.