Wannabe hacker crashes library helpdesk servers

We’ve all been bored in the library, but probably not so bored that we’ve hacked into the library servers and replaced the self service desk with a doge meme.

This summer that’s what second year Computer Science student Raviraj Minawala did on a fateful day just before the start of term.

Raviraj says: “It was like back in August when I was in the library and I was finding a few bugs in the system.

“I found out that the self service machines are connected to all the computers and you can access the folders and files of the self service machines.”

“So I was able to change the background on the self-service machine. When I restarted the machine it showed the image that I wanted. Basically I had control of the machine 100%.”

The tech-wizard student boasts: “It only took me 45 or 30 minutes”

But joyless library staff didn’t see the funny side, and the next day Raviraj, who had left his twitter handle on the photo, received a snide tweet from staff.

Raviraj says: “The next day I got a tweet from the library saying thanks for screwing up the login.”

“I left my twitter handle on the screen because I wanted to see if they would reply back.”

And he got in further trouble with staff, who called him to a meeting about the infiltration.

He also changed the receipts

Raviraj says: “Basically one of the staff members called me to the office and gave me a warning that if I do it again they would suspend me.

“They’ve changed the settings now so I’m not sure if I could do it again.

“I think a few students noticed it and posted it on Facebook.

He’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

The library hero says: “We expect the services to be secure and if it’s not we should be able to show them if something’s wrong.”