Jeju middle school student accesses teacher's account, downloads classmates' personal information

A middle school student in Jeju was caught after illegally accessing a cloud-based collaboration platform using a teacher’s ID and password and downloading hundreds of classmates’ personal information and assessment scores.

 
The Jeju Office of Education said Friday that a second-year male student at a middle school in Jeju City logged into Google Workspace using a teacher’s credentials. He downloaded a student roster, which included names, classes and student numbers, for all second-year students, as well as first-semester performance assessment records for two second-year classes and six third-year classes.

The breach came to light after a classmate reported on Tuesday that the student had secretly downloaded the data. Around 400 students’ personal information and 200 students’ performance scores were compromised, according to the office.

 
Education authorities explained that the school had issued accounts with patterned IDs and identical initial passwords to teachers and students, instructing them to change the passwords later. However, some failed to do so.  

 
“The student appears to have noticed the ID pattern and attempted to log in using default passwords, eventually gaining access to a teacher’s account that had not been updated,” an official said.

 
The school immediately reported the breach to the Ministry of Education and notified those affected. The downloaded files were deleted, and all teachers and students were required to reset their passwords. A task force was also set up to handle damage reports and provide remedies.

 
As the student is under the age of criminal responsibility, he will face disciplinary measures determined by the school’s student life education committee. The school issued a letter of apology to parents for the incident.

 
The education office said the student had been accessing some teacher and student Google Workspace accounts without permission since March, though no evidence has been found of the leaked data being distributed externally. It urged all schools to strengthen security measures for Google Workspace and other private or public online learning platforms.
 

Source : https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-09-05/national/socialAffairs/Jeju-middle-school-student-accesses-teachers-account-downloads-classmates-personal-information/2392646

Comprehension

What platform did the student use to access personal information?
How did the student figure out the teacher’s account and password?
What kinds of information did he download?
How many the students’ personal information was exposed?
Who discovered and reported the student’s actions?
Why was the student not criminally charged?
What immediate steps did the school take after the breach?
Since when had the student been secretly accessing accounts?

Discussion

Why is it dangerous for someone to steal personal data?
Do you think the student understood how serious his actions were?
Should schools give students and teachers stronger, unique passwords from the beginning? Why or why not?
What kind of punishment is fair for the student in this case?
How can schools better protect online learning platforms?
If you were one of the affected students, how would you feel?
Is it ever okay for students to test security systems like this?
Do you think technology has made schools safer or less safe? Why?
Should students learn more about cyber ethics in school?
What lessons can be learned from this incident for both teachers and students?

Vocabulary

Credentials – username and password used to log into an account.
Breach – a break in security where rules or protections are violated.
Compromise – to make information unsafe or exposed.
Roster – an official list of names, usually of students or team members.
Patterned IDs – account usernames that follow a predictable design (example: teacher01, teacher02).
Default – the original setting or password that is given before changes are made.
Disciplinary measures – actions taken to punish or correct bad behavior.
Remedies – solutions or actions taken to fix a problem.