by Miles Jolley, Associate Staff<\/p>\n
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A few college kids have recently found themselves in federal hot water for taking advantage of campus computers.\u00a0 For two different but sinister ends, Matthew Weaver and Marcus Barrington used keyloggers to steal others’ online usernames and passwords.\u00a0 If you’re like me, you have hopefully never encountered this technology.\u00a0 Keyloggers are covert devices that can easily assist ne’er-do-wells in stealing your identity and accessing personal information.\u00a0 Also, if you’re like me, you’ll be surprised at how obtainable these are and the relatively weak legal response preventing their use.\u00a0 First, let’s marvel at the idiocy of these students.<\/p>\n
Matthew Weaver was running for student council president at California State University, San Marcos in March of 2012.\u00a0 Instead of kissing babies and shaking hands, he decided to steal the election.\u00a0 Weaver installed keyloggers on campus computers to steal other students’ university network usernames and passwords in order to cast hundreds of votes for himself.\u00a0 Once university officials got wise, they involved federal investigators.\u00a0 The election ended up winning Weaver a year in jail for committing identity theft, wire fraud, and unauthorized access to a computer.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n Barrington was a student at Florida A&M University and similarly used keyloggers to access the school’s Registrar’s system.\u00a0 Once Barrington infiltrated the system, he altered grades and other vital information.\u00a0 All total, there were over 650 changes made which involved over 90 students.\u00a0 Barrington wound up with 84 months in prison for various identity theft and fraud convictions.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n Keyloggers are computer applications that record your keystrokes.\u00a0 The common criminal usage of a keylogger is for stealing online usernames and passwords that protect email accounts, online banking, you name it.\u00a0 They come in both hardware and software formats and all it takes is a little internet surfing to get your hands on one.\u00a0 Legitimate companies market keyloggers to IT admins and parents that want to track activity on their computers.\u00a0 However, it is easy for criminals to wield this otherwise legal technology for wrongdoing.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n The reality is that this is a hard situation to remedy.\u00a0 Nowhere in the federal code is the illegal use of a keylogger specifically mentioned.\u00a0 Lawmakers attempted to pass relevant provisions in 2007 with the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, but it died in the Senate after twice passing the House.\u00a0 The law would make illegal “[c]ollecting personally identifiable information through the use of a keystroke logging function.”[4]<\/a>\u00a0 A clear law such as this might make technology companies think twice about to whom they sell keyloggers.\u00a0 Additionally, this definitive language would let potential criminals know there will be consequences for illicit use.\u00a0 However, until more is done, these devices will be used to take advantage of innocent, hard-working Americans.<\/p>\n
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