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British law enforcement agencies are having an ongoing investigation into multiple incidents in which a group of attackers hacked the British exam to sell it to examinees. Based on reports, hacking incidents against England and Wales surged during this specific part of the year, and numerous threat actors are trying to sell fake exam papers online to lure exam takers. It is uncommon for data breaches to spread legitimate exam information that could affect the exam boards.
However, a recent hacking incident impacted the OCR and Pearson Edexcel examiners. Researchers suspect a hacker accessed a school’s internal email system to request papers from the exam boards.
Moreover, a Cambridgeshire Constabulary spokesperson admitted they suffered a data breach incident. They were investigating the incident and discovered that a couple of examination boards had been extracted from their systems and sold online. Unfortunately, the exam boards contained the exam papers for the upcoming event.
In addition, the spokesperson said that the investigation is still in its early parts, and they could still collaborate with the National Crime Agency and the government’s cybercrime unit.
Another British exam board has also confirmed a cyber incident earlier this week.
AQA, another British exam board in the United Kingdom, has also admitted it suffered a cybersecurity incident last weekend.
However, the compromised exam board refused to comment on the matter individually, but it responded collectively via Joint Council for Qualification. The response stated that the exam boards have a small number of contained incidents of attempted fraud to the police.
On the other hand, the police reports also revealed that they are investigating an allegation of fraudulent activity and computer misuse involving the data breach at AQA.
The preliminary examinations in the UK are GCSEs for 16-year-old students at the end of their compulsory education and A-Levels, which form part of university entry requirements.
The British board warns every exam taker that students who will purchase the stolen exams could face disqualification if found guilty. Furthermore, the board will ban the students for a set period, which could cost them their placement at their university.
