source : the age
Students are being warned not to access unauthorised VCE exam papers after a hacker infiltrated the state’s exam authorities’ website and claimed tests had been made available for purchase online.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) website remained offline on Thursday morning after being taken down on Wednesday following the hack about 6pm.
Using the alias “DaggerElite”, someone claimed to have accessed the VCAA site and its external printing providers, downloading VCE exams and selling them to “hundreds of students statewide”.
The VCAA has advised there is no evidence that its exams had been illegally downloaded and sold, following its initial investigations overnight.
St Kevin’s College, an all-boys’ school in Toorak, was among those who have written to students, warning them not to “engage with any entity claiming to have access to examination content”.
“In the same way, do not open, download, or share any messages that claim to be related to this matter,” the letter from school leadership read.
“Under no circumstances should students share personal information with anyone claiming to sell VCE examinations.”
St Kevin’s told students that VCAA chief executive officer Andrew Smith had contacted all schools to advise there was no evidence “any sensitive data or examination papers have been compromised”.
The hack follows several years of embarrassing bungles for the VCAA, including a “root and branch” inquiry after exam questions were unintentionally published online.
Smith was appointed after the CEO at the time of the 2024 incident resigned and VCAA board members were sacked.
Smith told ABC on Thursday the hack had been reported to Victoria Police. He said VCAA was also continuing to investigate the incident.
“It’s incredibly disappointing, and I’m really sorry for any distraction that this has caused for students who are sitting their exams today or in the coming week,” he said.
“Please do not hand over private information or personal information or bank details and so on, because we know that there are a range of claims being made about exams being available for sale.”
Smith said the VCAA had been working overnight to ensure that it had all the evidence needed to be confident that exam papers hadn’t been accessed or released.
Social media forums flooded with conversation about the hack, with students pointing out the exam papers being available was likely a scam and others claiming without any evidence that exams had been leaked.
“This is literally a study distraction,” one wrote.
Education Minister Gabrielle Williams said in a statement that the VCE exams would continue as normal.
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Jackson Graham is an education reporter at The Age. He was previously an explainer reporter.Connect via email.
