IT staff hit back over Oxford student hack attack

Disgruntled IT staff at Oxford University have hit back after two students working for the university newspaper claimed to have hacked its network and exposed security flaws last week.

The Oxford Student said the pair used free software to access a database of university students' email passwords and other personal details, spy on MSN Messenger conversations and look at some of the CCTV network.

But a source from the University's IT staff who wished to remain anonymous contacted silicon.com to "put the record straight".

"These students didn't hack anything. All they did was sniff some tcp/ip traffic. That they could only do because it was the last hub left to upgrade in college," the source said. "None of the college's administration systems were compromised in any way. None of the student servers were compromised. There is simply no such thing as the database referred to above. The emails and passwords they compromised were not the official university ones, and if they were, it is because the email clients were not configured properly."

The source said the main issue raised by the story is user awareness, not security failings, but admitted that gaining access to the CCTV network was worrying.

"I'd like to point out, though, that being able to access a security camera in a public area is not exactly a breach of privacy, and that the unit was installed without proper conference with the IT officer in that college."

Was the student newspaper hack genuine whistle-blowing or have the university's IT staff been unfairly criticised? Post your Reader Comment below.