WARRENSBURG, Mo., June 23 (UPI) -- A Kansas City, Mo., man pleaded guilty in federal court to a conspiracy with another former student to hack large data bases at a Missouri university.
Daniel Fowler, 21, said he and Joseph A. Camp, 27, of New York state, beginning in March 2009 entered into an elaborate scheme to download databases of faculty, staff, student and alumni information at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg in order to sell them, the Kansas City Star reported.
Further, the two transferred money to their student accounts and tried to change their grades, Fowler said.
In November, Fowler and Camp were charged with conspiracy, fraud, computer intrusion, illegal interception of electronic communications and aggravated identity theft.
Camp, who says he is not guilty, is scheduled for an October trial.
Fowler said he helped develop a computer virus that was placed on thumb drives and installed on campus computers, which enabled the hackers to access the computers' files and turn on webcams.
The pair allegedly went so far as to try to access a computer in the university president's office, the Star reported.
The activities were discovered in April 2009 when Camp allegedly offered to sell to undercover federal agents in New York 90,000 personal identities from the school's database for a price of $35,000, court records indicated.
University administrators notified those who may have been affected and instructed them how to detect misuse of personal information, the newspaper said.
