A Yorkshire student, who could face a year's suspension from his studies at Oxford University for hacking into its computer system, said the decision would be a "devastating blow" to his career.
Anila Baig
Patrick Foster, from Ilkley, and Roger Waite, wrote an article for The Oxford Student newspaper about how easy it was to gain electronic access to personal details of staff and students.
The pair, both first-year students aged 20, claim they were ca
rrying out an investigation and told the university about their findings.
They were immediately referred to the university's internal "police" – the proctors – last month, and Thames Valley Police were called in under the Computer Misuse Act. The pair are now facing suspension and a hefty fine.
Though police decided the matter should be dealt with internally, and the students are likely to face a hearing at the university's internal Court of Summary Jurisdiction in the coming weeks.
Mr Foster, a former pupil at Ermysted's Grammar School, told the Yorkshire Post last night that he was very disappointed with the university's handling of the situation.
"We informed the university about what we were up to and handed over all the data we accessed. Rather than look at our findings and do something beneficial with them, they are choosing to pick on us," he said.
Mr Foster, who is reading Politics, Philosophy and Economics said: "It's a sorry state of affairs when they fail to recognise we were doing them a favour, and instead try to kick us out. So much for a free Press and academic freedom. I am very disappointed in how the university has handled the situation."
The pair's story appeared on the front page of The Oxford Student, headlined with "University IT network wide open to hackers".
It explained how the student journalists used software that is freely available on the Internet to compromise the university's information technology security systems.
Mr Foster said: "Losing a year of my university study will be a devastating blow for my career, and obviously it is very annoying, too, when I don't feel I have done anything wrong.
"There has been a lot of media interest in this story, and we are hoping that commonsense will prevail, but somehow I am not too hopeful about that."
He said his parents were very supportive of him, but did not wish to comment.
A spokeswoman for Oxford University said the university could not comment on individual cases, but she issued a statement outlining university procedure. "The university constantly reviews security measures on its computer network, in order to minimise the risk of security breaches.
"Anyone found to have breached university regulations on computer use would be referred to the proctors, and would be subject to investigation. Anyone committing a criminal offence would be referred to Thames Valley Police."
anila.baig@ypn.co.uk
