An email sent to all faculty warned that there may be compromised tests in the Chi Tester system.
A student broke into the College of Science during spring semester, creating a security breach in Chi Tester, a testing system that many professors use on campus.
“During the break-in, the student was able to obtain credentials to Chi Tester that made it possible for him to access all exams within the Chi Tester system,” said the email dated Aug. 28. “We have no way of knowing how many exams he may have actually accessed. We recommend that you monitor your exams closely to identify anomalies in student test performance.”
Weber County attorneys charged Joseph W. Langford, a former student, with the burglary on July 29.
Langford began attending WSU in 2011. He was a microbiology major with a minor in chemistry.
Langford will make his first court appearance on Sept. 9. Langford has no prior criminal record.
Weber State University sent out emails in August to students warning them their identity may have been compromised and encouraged students to change their passwords to protect information.
The breach was reported to have affected as many as 1,200 students.
Andrea Grover, the information system manager, said the student who took responsibility for the breach, whom she did not identify, told her he was looking for tests and quizzes to help his own academic endeavors or sell them to other students.
The university would not comment on the specifics regarding any disciplinary action that might be taken against Langford, other than to say the Dean of Students’ office is aware of the case.
Grover said there is no way of knowing which tests were compromised, but they were able to identify some of them. She said those affected professors had been notified.
She admitted that it is possible that other tests were compromised that have not been discovered.
Grover said they sent out the email as a precaution so faculty could keep an eye out for any abnormalities with test scores. She said professors don’t need to rewrite all of their tests, but they should be aware.
The administrative rights on Chi Tester have been changed so this type of thing will never happen again, Grover said. He added that it’s important for students and faculty to change their passwords once every 120 days and to use strong passwords that can’t easily be guessed.
Correction: This story was updated to reflect the burglary occurred during spring semester.
