Spam messages in Sakai, UF’s course management system, have never been an issue until recently.
After the UF Computing Help Desk received a number of complaints from students about spam messages in their Sakai inboxes a few weeks ago, UF Information Technology began investigating.
Doug Johnson, the assistant director for UF’s learning services, said this is considered a social hacking, not a technical hacking, because no computer hacking was found during the investigation. A student used the GatorLink usernames and passwords of 19 other individuals to send the messages.
Johnson said UF’s Division of Student Affairs and the UF Police Department are investigating whether the 19 IDs were given voluntarily.
The individual sent about 38,000 emails to students and instructors in 126 courses, he said.
Johnson, who couldn’t reveal the identity of those involved, said the email was promoting a website and service created by the main student.
Rebecca Mysels received the email multiple times.
“I deleted it the first time I saw it,” the 23-year-old, first-year UF early childhood education graduate student said. “But when I logged in a few hours later, it was there again.”
UFIT has turned the report over to Student Affairs and UPD to determine what action to take next, Johnson said. Because this incident violated multiple UF policies as well as state and federal laws related to spam, the individual could face fines and expulsion.
