Purdue University engineering students 'hacked into professors' accounts to change their grades - even boosting an A to an A+'

Roy Sun 'changed nine F grades and one incomplete to As'

Mitsutoshi Shirasaki 'changed 24 grades, making fails As or Bs'

Sujay Sharma 'changed one grade from a D to an A and acted as a lookout'

Men gained access to professors' accounts 'by switching keyboards fitted with key logging devices so they could figure out their passwords'



Three University of Purdue students have been accused of hacking into their professors' computers and changing their grades - even improving one A grade to an A+.

Roy Chaoran Sun, an electrical engineering student, and Mitsutoshi Shirasaki, an aeronautics and astronautics major from Japan, allegedly boosted dozens of grades between 2008 and 2012.



A third student, 24-year-old Sujay Sharma , a nuclear engineering major, has been accused of changing one of his grades and acting as a look out.



Arrested: Roy Sun, left, allegedly changed nine F grades to As after hacking into his professors' computer accounts. Sujay Sharma, right, allegedly changed one grade, while another student changed 24



'This was… students who were very smart, who decided to take their knowledge and their wisdom and used it for things they shouldn't have used it for,' Purdue Police Chief John Cox told the Indiana Journal and Courier . 'Obviously, there will be consequences for that.'

Sun, 24, allegedly changed his grades from May 2008 until he graduated in 2010, according to the affidavit. His grades were changed from nine Fs and one incomplete to straight As.

Shirasaki, also 24, allegedly changed 24 grades between May 2010 and December 2012, changing some from fails to As and Bs.

Bizarrely, he even changed two As for classes in Japanese and aeronautics and astronautics engineering to A pluses.

Sharma allegedly changed just one engineering grade from a D to an A, the affidavit states.

Scene: The students were caught after a professor discovered his passwords had been changed

The Journal and Courier detailed the intricate plot the men allegedly carried out in order to boost their grades.

Shirasaki told authorities that Sun taught him how to access the accounts; they broke into the offices overnight and switched keyboards with identical ones, according to the affidavit.

The switched keyboards contained key logging devices and when the students allegedly swapped them back again, they were able to figure out the professors' passwords.



Their alleged plot was discovered when an engineering professor contacted the IT security services department as his password had been changed. It happened in November and again in December.

IT officials learned that the professor's account was used to change a student's grade and they contacted police in January.

Plot: The men allegedly switched their professors' keyboards with others fitted with key logging devices. When they switched the keyboards again, they were able to figure out the passwords

Shirasaki was identified as the suspect as he was logged into the university's wireless network under his own account when he allegedly hacked into the professor's account to change a grade.



Sharma and Sun have been arrested but Shirasaki is in Japan, Harrington said.



They face a string of charges including conspiracy to commit computer tampering, conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to commit computer trespass.



Sharma posted a combined $5,000 surety and $5,000 cash bond.



Sun remains in jail on a combined $125,000 surety and $125,000 cash bond. He is now a graduate student at Boston University and police are contacting officials there.

