[ISN] 10 arrested for hacking in fake-diploma scheme

[InfoSec News]

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=370919

By Chen Qian 
Shanghai Daily
2008-8-20

TEN people accused of hacking into government databases to add false 
information and create bogus diplomas were caught by police in Jiangxi 
Province, Legal Daily reported yesterday.

Alleged leaders of the hacker group have been arrested, the report said. 
One of them, surnamed Li, had made more than 2 million yuan (US$294,118) 
in only four months.

The suspects sold fake certificates to make money. Since authentic 
certificates can be checked on government Websites, they allegedly 
attacked databases and put false information. The scheme was discovered 
after someone purchased a fake doctor's certificate to apply for a 
business license in Zhejiang Province in June.

Zhejiang authorities found the certificate was faked even though the 
information on the Jiangxi Public Health Department's Website matched 
it.

The Jiangxi Public Health Department checked the database and found it 
was attacked several months ago and that many statistics were distorted.

Police caught six suspects on June 24 and four more later. The gang 
leader surnamed Li confessed he got the idea to make false certificates 
in 2007, after he failed to earn his own certificate at university, the 
report said.

Li said demand for fake certificates was very high and contacted his 
friend surnamed Wang to attack the government databases and validate his 
false certificates.

The investigation showed Wang attacked more than 10 government databases 
in Jiangxi, Hubei, Guizhou, Sichuan, Jiangsu and Liaoning provinces 
since March this year.

Wang sold the user rights of every database to Li for 5,000 yuan to 
8,000 yuan. Li charged each client 1,000 yuan to 2,500 yuan, according 
to the report.