Hackers Threaten Berkeley H.S. African Americans, Adjust College Applicants’ Class Rankings, and Swipe Michigan Casino Customers' Cards

In case you missed our coverage this week in ThreatWatch, Nextgov’s regularly updated index of cyber breaches:

Tirade Posted on Hacked Berkeley High Computer Threatened African Americans

The offender overrode protections on a computer in the school library, and according to one observer, “changed the homepage to reflect a racist and offensive viewpoint." The text has an expletive and a racial slur, "where it previously read ‘BHS Library.'”

A forensics investigation and interview later determined a student was responsible for the screen hack, school officials announced Nov. 5.

On Nov. 4, school principal Sam Pasarow characterized the message as “a hate crime” and said it “will not stand in our community. I assure you that we are giving this investigation the utmost attention, as well as involving the Berkeley Police Department."

The following day, hundreds of the school's students walked out of class and peacefully marched in protest at the University of California, Berkeley.

Later that day, after figuring out who was responsible, Pasarow said school officials are concerned about possible retaliation against the student, and will not release any details that could be used for public identification, such as age, gender or race.

Hacker Changes Class Ranking of N.C. High School College Applicants

Panther Creek High School officials said they are notifying the universities and colleges of all students who sent or uploaded their transcripts during the past month, when a hack occurred.

The school posted a letter on its website Nov. 5 stating the security breach was discovered recently. 

Officials have notified parents of students whose grades were changed. 

Coincidentally, news about the grade changes was released during North Carolina College Application Week.

Android App Touchnote Succumbs to Hackers

The makers of the popular app for turning photos into postcards have notified customers by email that a data breach exposed their personal information. 

A spokesman for Touchnote said: “Yesterday, 4 November 2015, we received information confirming that Touchnote has been the victim of criminal activity, resulting in the theft of some of our customer data … The data that was accessed included your name, email address, postal address, date of birth and your Touchnote order history.”

The hackers also accessed the last four digits of customer credit card numbers. The company does not store any other card details. 

Crooks Swipe Card Data from Michigan Casino Clients

The Four Winds Casino on Nov. 5 warned customers about a data breach affecting several of its locations in the state.

A credit card issuer Oct. 2 had informed the casino of a pattern of unauthorized charges on the issuer’s cards: All of the compromised cards had been used at the casino. An investigation revealed that someone had installed a program on the company’s payment network that copied data off the magnetic strip on customer's cards.