Church Elder/'Jeopardy' Champion Charged With Computer Crimes (mlive.com) 102
Stephanie Jass, a record-setting, seven-time winner on Jeopardy, has been charged with two felonies for accessing the email accounts of two executives at the college where she worked as an assistant professor. An anonymous reader quotes MLive:
Jass was able to access the accounts because of an April 24 issue with the college email system, hosted by Google. Frank Hribar, vice president for enrollment and student affairs, said there was network outage caused by loss of power. On April 25, users received a text message with a generic, standard passcode: "Please attempt to login to Gmail using this password. You should be prompted to change password after login..." Not everyone, however, was prompted to do so. Some did make the change using a tutorial. Some received an error and were unable to create a new password, the timeline states. Others did not alter the password at all. The method "worked just fine, had there not been manipulation of the system," said Hribar...
Jass, 47, of Tecumseh was charged in December with unauthorized access to a computer, program or network, and using a computer to commit a crime, both felonies... On May 5, the college deactivated Jass' email account and access to all other college software. The locks to her office door were changed and her desktop computer was confiscated, according to the timeline.
The police report "indicates Jass accessed emails while using an internet network at First Presbyterian Church of Tecumseh, where she served as an elder."
Jass, 47, of Tecumseh was charged in December with unauthorized access to a computer, program or network, and using a computer to commit a crime, both felonies... On May 5, the college deactivated Jass' email account and access to all other college software. The locks to her office door were changed and her desktop computer was confiscated, according to the timeline.
The police report "indicates Jass accessed emails while using an internet network at First Presbyterian Church of Tecumseh, where she served as an elder."
power loss = reset passwords ???? (Score:4, Interesting)
power loss = reset passwords ????
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Well look at the statement made after filling in the implied subject nouns left out:
The method to prevent manipulation of the system worked just fine, had there not been manipulation of the system, said Hribar...
With such logic, it doesn't surprise me a bit that a power loss results in reset passwords.
They probably print out all the students SSNs on papers that are put up on the walls for all to see every time it rains too, because why not?
Re:power loss = reset passwords ???? (Score:4, Interesting)
power loss = reset passwords ????
Even more to the point, power loss at a local facility = reset passwords for gmail ???
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:power loss = reset passwords ???? (Score:4, Insightful)
I've encountered this in environments claiming PCI, HIPAA, and FIRPAA compliance. The IT person asked to clear up lost passwords, en masse, is specifically told by their manager to send clear text one-time passwords, and may be told not to expire them, and is even told by their manager to use the same password for all one-time users. Objections are overridden as "wasting people'e time" and "interfering with the business". The result is that there may be dozens of accounts in even a small business where low-use email accounts are accessible for forged access for indefinite periods.
Re: (Score:1)
That just boggles the mind. A temporary password that works for all accounts? And then if, out of sheer disbelief, you check whether you can log into someone else's account like that, they throw you in jail for hacking?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Please, don't confuse the behavior of mishandling passwords for convenience with actual abuse of those mishandled passwords. The abuse was a separate, later behavior by the previous "Jeopardy" winner.
Re: power loss = reset passwords ???? (Score:2)
In Soviet America, password hacks you!
motive (Score:2)
The shitty summary doesn't even mention motive.
Non story.
Captcha: grassy
Re: (Score:3)
Jass is a very attractive lady, I was very interested in dating her.
I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but c'mon:
https://peopledotcom.files.wor... [wordpress.com]
Re: (Score:2)
That's a photo ID picture and hence awful. If you met her in a bar she might look OK.
Admittedly I've spent too much time in Asia so anyone with blonde hair and blue eyes is an immediate eye catcher. Plus there's the fact she is clearly somewhat smart.
Re:Church elder, 'eh? (Score:4, Funny)
Whatever happened to 'Thou Shalt Not take advantage of they neighbor's inept security practices'?
I'll take hypocrisy for $1000 Alex!
Re: (Score:3)
I haven't found a good church since I left Mt. Zion of Atlanta... most churches I've encountered are about getting power for the speaker, regardless of law or court decisions.
Re: (Score:2)
Most American's don't get that far.
Re: (Score:2)
Please tell me how they suppose how you'd do the one without the other.
If you went dumpster diving and found printed out e-mails, you would be accessing e-mails while not using an internet network.
But there's such a thing as local mail too. And uucp. And many other ways to transfer, deliver or read e-mail that does not require an internet network.
Clickbait headline (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
"School employee accesses colleagues' emails without permission" doesn't sound as good.
Re: (Score:2)
The fact that this person was a former Jeopardy champion, or the fact that she may have been recognized as an elder of some church is entirely irrelevant except insomuch as it might make some people who wouldn't otherwise give two shits about what this person did to instead click on the link to read about it.
I agree, somewhat. A former Jeopardy champion, and therefore a minor celebrity, breaking the law is perhaps news. A church elder breaking the law doesn't sound like news to me, how many people even know what a "church elder" does?
I'd think what would be more interesting of a headline is a college professor was caught trying to blackmail a fellow professor. I'd think a more appropriate headline would be, "Professor/'Jeopardy' Champ Caught Hacking College E-mails", or something like that. I'm sure some pe
Re: (Score:1)
Christianity is still incredibly popular, so most people know what a church elder is and does.
And, as they all know, church elders are chosen by their community, in part, because of their solid moral values.
So, church elders accused of a crime has shock value.
This should all be obvious.
Re:Clickbait headline (Score:5, Insightful)
Christianity is still incredibly popular, so most people know what a church elder is and does.
And, as they all know, church elders are chosen by their community, in part, because of their solid moral values.
Um, no, I bet most people do not know this. Most christian varieties don't have elders, and while they may have heard the word, would have no way of knowing whether they were elected, appointed, graduated to being one, or just got old.
Don't presume that everybody else lives in your tiny world.
Re: (Score:2)
Just about every Protestant based church has a local board of elders that oversees the church staff.
Re: (Score:2)
Just about every Protestant based church has a local board of elders that oversees the church staff.
This is mostly the case for Presbyterian-derived churches (Presbyter = elder), but many other protestant denominations have no concept of elders. They may have people with similar functions, but tend to call them other things like pastors or deacons.
In fact, I'd think most Christians except those from Presbyterian-derived churches would think of Elders as young Mormons knocking on doors.
Re: (Score:2)
I know about no christian cult in Germany that has 'Elders'. ... the only Elders I see are 18-20 year old americans trying to mission in Germany ... which is kind if funny as everyone ignores them but they are always super confident ... and Elder would be translated into 'the older one' in German, and such young guys are called Elders.
Josuas Wittnesses perhaps or Methodists
Anyway, people who never saw such 'Elders' walk around and connect them to a christian cult, don't know what an
Elder is supposed to be.
Re: (Score:2)
It may cause Alex to release a statement that the former champion obtained undue prominence if they used their Jeopardy!-level smarts as part of their being hired or kept.
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
Christophobic leftards.
That's about right. Why does the child molestation by members of a church make the news? I mean it's not usually something that makes it past the police report section of the newspaper. Given that the victim is, by definition, underage then there isn't usually a whole lot of detail that is released publicly to make a story. But because it's a follower of Christ therefore it's news.
There were dozens of incidents of rapes on New Year's Eve in Germany and did this make the news? Of course not, because the
Re: (Score:2)
Moral hypocrisy is only a part of it.
A priest is a combination of a teacher, psychiatrist and a direct representative of g-o-d to children, and often to their parents.
Not only are they a person of immeasurable authority, however irrational that may be, they are also privy to secrets of family and community the child is living in.
The level of trust and power over the lives of children they are given, and the accompanying responsibility, is incomparable to almost any other - apart for those of a parent, perso
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention the Catholic actions in protecting priests, which included putting them in other situations with contact with children. Those were definitely newsworthy.
Bad move. (Score:5, Informative)
From TFA:
Jass admitted to school authorities to accessing the emails of Docking, Caldwell, Assistant Vice President Bridgette Winslow, several unnamed fellow faculty members and students, including her stepson. She made these acknowledgements May 8 in a meeting with Human Resources Director Renee Burck; Vice President of Business Affairs Jerry Wright; and Patrick Quinlan, president of the faculty union, according to a timeline put together by the college and contained in the police report.
If I've learned anything about crime from corporations, it's that you should deny everything until the end of time and frustrate the prosecution endlessly until they are willing to let you go with a slap on the wrist but without admitting guilt.
Re: (Score:3)
From TFA:
Jass admitted to school authorities to accessing the emails of Docking, Caldwell, Assistant Vice President Bridgette Winslow, several unnamed fellow faculty members and students, including her stepson. She made these acknowledgements May 8 in a meeting with Human Resources Director Renee Burck; Vice President of Business Affairs Jerry Wright; and Patrick Quinlan, president of the faculty union, according to a timeline put together by the college and contained in the police report.
If I've learned anything about crime from corporations, it's that you should deny everything until the end of time and frustrate the prosecution endlessly until they are willing to let you go with a slap on the wrist but without admitting guilt.
It's worth noting that being a former Jeopardy! champion doesn't mean you're immune from acting foolishly.
There's a reason why Gary Gygax made Intelligence and Wisdom separate character traits, even way back when the D&D ruleset consisted of three stapled pamphlets in a white box ...
Re: (Score:2)
Someone may be intelligent enough to figure out how to break the law, but lack the wisdom to get away with it.
Re: (Score:2)
The email reset happens, and Prof. Jass first posts to FB abou
Please please please (Score:1)
tell me she has a brother named Hugh.
Re: (Score:2)
She also knows a seat cushion tester named Maya Surts, and is part of a working mother's support group with Erasmus B. Dragon.
Ken Jennings (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
In this case, given the relatively trivial "protection" placed upon the IT resources in question, the organization can't have placed much value upon them. It would seem to me that a felony charge is not warranted, as a felony implies harm to something of great value.
Its not a felony to poke around in unlocked filing cabinets in your colleague's locked offices that you entered using the office master key hanging on the hook in the break room. It may not be nice, but it is not a felony.
Re: Fix de bugs instead of blaming the attacker! (Score:2)
In Soviet America *everything* is a felony.
also... (Score:3)
WTF? (Score:1)
So wait a second. There was a power outage. Somehow that equals reset passwords. Then they apparently send the same temporary password out to everybody via text message? The IT guy should be held in criminal contempt.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it is a crime. It meets the criteria of exceeding authorized access under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Any reasonable person will understand that just because some bonehead set everybody's password to the same thing, that doesn't mean you have been given permission to access everyone's email. Should whoever caused all the passwords to be given out get a new job? Yeah, probably. That person isn't necessarily an admin, though. Sometimes admins are required to do things they know aren't a good
Re: (Score:2)
It may be a crime, just like walking in your neighbor's using the key they hid under their potted plant may be a crime. But it shouldn't be a felony. A felony implies great harm to something valuable. If the organization cared so little for their IT resources that they protected them so laxly, a felony charge is not warranted.
Re: But this is not a crime... (Score:2)
CFAA is a badlaw. It feeds harmless people into the Gulag meat grinder so gratuitously that it brings the Law itself into popular disrepute.
Worked fine?!? (Score:2, Insightful)
They set ALL the passwords to the same thing, then told EVERYBODY the password, and that meets their definition of "working fine"? That meets my definition of fundamentally broken.
Stephanie Jass? (Score:2)
Is her husband's name Hugh?
disproportionate (Score:1)
What is this church hiding? They used a vicious badlaw to purge and silence this woman. What did they fear she would reveal to the public?