Experts: gaokao scores can't be fixed
- Source: Global Times
- [02:04 June 25 2010]
- Comments
By Ji Beibei
Students leave examination site after attending the first subject test of college entrance exam,or Gaokao,at a middle school in Qingdao,east China's Shangdong Province,June 7,2010.About 9.57 million examinees in China attend this year's national college entrance exam,which is held from June 7 to 8. Photo: Xinhua
As millions of students are awaiting the release of the result of college entrance exam, or gaokao, some people are out to swindle them by preying on their anxiety and the urge to secure a place in college.
Self-proclaimed hackers have posted online ads claiming that they can change the fate of some students by breaking into the Ministry of Education's grading system and fiddling with student scores.
"Pay 3,000 yuan ($440) for one subject and get the score you want," one hacker said when a Global Times reporter called him posing as a student.
The hacker, who gave his name as Zhang, boasted that his company was the country's top hacking service.
"We've already had over 100,000 customers," Zhang said.
"All you have to do is telling me the website we need to crack, the examinee's ID info and down payment of half charges."
Another hacker, who claimed to be from Guangdong Province, said the charges varied, depending on the target.
"It's between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan. We have done this since 2003 and never been caught. I successfully hacked the exam institution in Hebei Province to change marks several days ago," he claimed.
The hacker boasted that he had learned the trick in 1991 at 12 and belonged to the earliest hacker organization in China.
However, experts and the authorities dismissed the 'business' as a scam. "Technically a hacker can't invade a computer not linked to the Internet," Yang Guangming, software professor at Northeastern University, told the Chongqing Economic Times.
"The computer we used is not linked to the Net. So it's impossible for a hacker to enter our grading system," Yu Jiangying, a teacher assigned for evaluating gaokao papers in Anhui Province, told the Global Times Thursday.
He added that the exam scores system has adopted stringent checks.
Chongqing police cautioned the public against falling victim to such scams. The possibility of hackers intruding is almost zero and trying to do it is illegal, Chongqing Economic Times reported on Wednesday.
"I don't buy it," an Anhui examinee Zhu Yongxing told the Global Times, adding that he was more concerned about the outcome of foul play during the exams.
