Anonymous group claims it hacked Pitt’s computer system

First there were bomb threats. Now there is a YouTube threat.

A group using the name… First there were bomb threats. Now there is a YouTube threat.

A group using the name “Anonymous” claims in an April 26 YouTube video that it has hacked into Pitt’s computer system and downloaded personal information about Pitt students, employees and alumni.

The group, which used a synthesized voice to deliver its message, claims to have taken more than 200 gigabytes of data, including student and staff passwords and usernames and payment, dorm room and coursework information.

“We do not agree with your intentions, your lack of care for your students and their valuable — yet vulnerable — information,” the group said in the video, which told Pitt to apologize to its students, staff and local law enforcement and demanded a public apology for irresponsibility on the homepage of Pitt’s website, to be posted for 15 days. The message said that if its demands aren’t met, the group will release the data.

Pitt spokesman Robert Hill said on Tuesday that the University examined its systems and found no evidence of a security breach.

The group said it deleted any sensitive vulnerable information from the University’s server to prevent other hackers from obtaining it.

Anonymous, a global security and privacy activist group, is often behind cyber attacks on credit card companies and has also been known to attack businesses and universities that it feels do not protect data. However, it’s unclear whether the group behind the video directed at Pitt is affiliated with the larger movement.

The same YouTube account, which is under the username “AnonOperative13,” has posted three other videos on the site, including one directed at Georgia State.

The group, which said it extracted student usernames and passwords among other personal data, has not been definitively linked to reports of a number of student email accounts being inaccessible on Tuesday. Students whose emails were shut down had to call the technology help desk to have someone on staff reset their passwords.

The April 26 video addressed to Pitt comes at a sensitive time for University security after the recent rash of bomb threats on campus, the latest of which took place on April 21. However, the group does not mention any affiliation with the bomb threats or threateners.