Ex-student charged over Western Sydney University cyberattacks

A 27-year-old former student of Western Sydney University has been charged over a series of cyberattacks that impacted the educational institution.

Image credit: NSW Police

Cybercrime detectives executed a search warrant in Kingswood on Wednesday, arresting the woman, who was refused bail.

Vision of the search showed rack-mounted equipment allegedly located at the address.

NSW Police said that a joint effort by strike force detectives, “working closely with Western Sydney University, the AFP Joint Policing Cyber Coordination Centre, JCP3 and cyber security experts, identified the alleged hacker [as] a former student of the university.”

Police allege that the woman initially exploited university systems “to secure unauthorised discounted parking on campus.”

“As the offending escalated, the woman is alleged to have altered her academic results and eventually threatened to sell confidential student data on the dark web,” NSW Police said in a statement.

The woman is facing 20 charges in total and is due to appear in court again on Thursday.

NSW Police did not say which cyber incidents the woman is alleged to have been involved in, but the university has experienced “a series of cyber hacks involving unauthorised access, data exfiltration, system compromise and misuse of university infrastructure” since 2021, the force noted.

“It is estimated that hundreds of university staff and students were affected by these incidents.”