A 15-year-old boy is accused of hacking into servers at the school board and is facing several charges in connection to the alleged breach.

Police say the boy, from Calgary, is alleged to have hacked into the Calgary Board of Education servers using phishing email credentials between November 2014 and March 2015.

They say the youth accessed corporate and personal information once he was into the servers.

“To our knowledge there were no other criminal offences committed based on access to that information but we, obviously as the police service, encourage anyone who is a victim of a crime or thinks they may have been a victim of a crime to report it to us,” said Staff Sgt. Ryan Jepson of the Calgary Police Service Electronic Surveillance Unit.

Police say he contacted local media to notify them of the attack and an investigation was launched that resulted in the execution of a search warrant at a Calgary residence and the youth’s arrest.

The teen cannot be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and is charged with:

  • Personation contrary to section 403(1)(c) of the Criminal Code.
  • Unlawfully altering data contrary to section 430(1.1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
  • Unlawfully obtaining a computer service, contrary to section 342.1(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
  • Unlawfully used a computer system with intent to commit the offence contrary to section 430(1.1) of the Criminal Code by willfully destroying data contrary to s. 342.1(1)(c) of the Criminal Code.
  • Use a computer password that would enable him to commit the offence contrary to section 342.1(1)(c) of the Criminal Code of fraudulently and without colour of right obtaining directly or indirectly the computer network contrary to s 342.1(1)(d)

The boy was released on bail with conditions and will next appear in court on July 23, 2015.

“This particular offence would not require a high degree of sophistication,” said Jepson. “What’s required is a computer and access to the Internet and beyond that, not a high degree of sophistication, some self-training and you’re off to the races so to speak.”

Police say the CBE took steps to notify parents of the students who were impacted when the incident happened.