A student who hacked the website of the Examination Department, doenets.lk, has been arrested by the Social Media Network Unit of the Computer Crime Investigation Division at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The student has managed to steal the result sheet of 272,682 students who sat for the A/L examination this year and set up a separate website where results can be viewed by entering the names of the students.
He is a student studying Information and Communication Technology (Advanced Level) at a popular boys’ school in Galle.
The student has been arrested following a lengthy investigation conducted based on a complaint made by Commissioner General of Examination L.M.D. Dharmasena to the CID on the 6th.
The exam results including A/L results can be viewed through the website of the examination department only by entering the examination number of the candidates or their national identity card number.
In order to ensure confidentiality, the results on the website cannot be viewed by entering the name of candidates.
However, the new website set up by the student has made available the facility to check the results by entering the name of the candidates.
If a part of the name is entered into the new website, the names of all the candidates who appeared for the exam with similar names will be displayed on it and the desired name can be selected from among those names.
The parents of the student are teachers and the CID said one of his elder sisters is an undergraduate while the other is also studying for A/L.
The CID officials have discovered that the student is a member of a Telegram group of 5,000 students studying Technology as a subject and share knowledge about how to hack websites and steal data.
The CID officials have strategically entered this Telegram group, observed the activities and then identified an administrator of the group who is also a student from Dehiwala.
The CID arrested the student in Galle yesterday after confirming the phone number of the person who hacked the website and by identifying his access to the Telegram group.
The CID officials have launched a cyber attack on the new website that was created by the student the day before yesterday. Following the attack, the student had left a message in the Telegram group stating that he will identify the attackers and restore the website.
Accordingly, the student who hacked the examination department’s website has been identified.
The student has shared the new website among various social media network groups, including WhatsApp. It was reported that a large number of people have checked the exam results through the new website.
During the questioning of the arrested student, he said that the website of the examination department was hacked on a previous occasion as well and a result sheet was published in this manner on a separate website.
The investigations have revealed that there was no criminal intention behind the actions of the student and that he has done it as a hobby using his knowledge.
The Computer Crime Investigation Division of the CID said that special attention has been paid to the Telegram group, which has nearly 5,000 students including this student.
