An ex-international Unitec student
recently hacked into the Unitec
website in protest of not being
allowed back into New Zealand.
The hacker, who goes by the online
name Hieupc posted a message on July 20
saying he was an international student at
Unitec but didn’t get to finish his degree
because his visa renewal was denied.
The Unitec website was down for
two days and then on July 24 he hacked
into the Auckland University website.
Hieupc, who had been studying the
English language at Unitec from May until
December last year, told In Unison he
hacked into the sites to get his message
across, stating he was set-up for fraud by a
Chinese flatmate.
Hieupc says the flatmate set him up
for credit card fraud, by using his TradeMe
account and bank account to sell tickets he
had bought with stolen credit card details.
When the fraud was linked back to
Hieupc, his bank account and TradeMe
accounts were closed, and the police
started an investigation into the credit
card fraud. By this point, the flatmate
had left Auckland, and Hieupc could not
contact him.
“Next days, that was terrible days for
me. I couldn’t imagine that happened to me.
I was so scared and I don’t want to go to
a jail. I want to continue my study but it’s
impossible,” Hieupc says.
He and his sister refunded the money
to the TradeMe buyers which he says cost
him dearly.
He says he then went back to
Vietnam to take care of his sick mother
in the term break, and when he went
to renew his visa to come back to New
Zealand, it was denied.
“That’s the end of my life, my future.”
However, a spokesperson for TradeMe
and a festival organiser who was caught up
in the fraud believed Hieupc admitted to
the fraud.
Chris Budge, TradeMe’s Trust and
Safety Manager confirmed TradeMe
investigators spoke to Hieupc and his
sister over the issue at the time.
He said that stolen credit cards were
used to buy tickets online from Ticketek
and Ticketmaster.
When the charges for the tickets
came up on people’s balances, they got in
touch with their banks, the tickets were
cancelled and the money refunded to the
card owners. It was up to Hieupc and his
sister to refund the money to the TradeMe
members. If they had not, a criminal
complaint against Hieupc would have been
considered, Mr Budge says.
Hieupc was also accused of using
stolen credit cards to buy tickets for the
New Years festival Phat 09.
The festival organiser Dave White
says Hieupc used stolen Amex credit card
numbers bought overseas to purchase
Phat09 tickets. When the organisers were
told about it they tracked the numbers and
cancelled the tickets.
Mr White said it was a situation
where everyone involved lost out.
In regards to the hacking, Hieupc
says he was surprised at how easy it was
to hack into the Unitec site, criticising its
security levels. He found a bug on the site,
and then hacked into the server.
A Unitec spokesperson said this was
the first time since the website’s inception
in 1998 that a security breach of this sort
has occurred.
Unitec responded by upgrading the
current level of security to ensure there is
no further re-occurrence.
news
By Stacey Knott
CHANGES FOR
UNITEC PROPOSED
By Stacey Knott
Me too...
UNITEC WEBSITE
BROUGHT DOWN BY
EX-STUDENT
Unitec has grand plans for the problemridden Applied Technology Institute
(UATI) buildings and the Hub.
Work has begun to house a new
multi-disciplinary workshop for students
and staff at UATI. The project will cost $1.3
million, funding from the Government was
secured before it announced there would
be no more funding of capital investment for
tertiary providers.
The project to upgrade UATI is going to
be split into stages to upgrade and improve
facilities, the first step is to develop a new
“flexi workshop” behind building 98.
Unitec chief executive Rick Ede says
the redevelopment is an acknowledgment of
the fact that the “facilities are not what you
would call cutting edge.”
Dr Ede says the workshop will allow
staff and students to use the same space for
multiple purposes.
“The ideal space for trades’ facilities
these days is a really big shed that you can
configure in different ways, all wired up
and connected with IT and services that
has great storage but doesn’t restrict you
to working in a workshop that can take a
maximum number of 16 students.”
This is expected to be completed by
early 2010.
Proposals for the next step of the UATI
developments are currently being written.
Once written, the proposals will be
taken to the Unitec council to allocate
money to the project. Dr Ede hopes UATI
will be completed by the first semester of
2011, but says this is “a pretty tough ask.”
Unitec is also looking into redeveloping
the Hub, taking a “holistic” approach to
informal learning facilities.
He says the aim will be to create a
one-stop-shop with more open spaces, IT
facilities, a student help desk and cafes.
This will also go through the Unitec
Property Investment Committee to get
money set aside for it in upcoming budgets.
Dr Ede says the first stage of the
redevelopments will be completed at the
end of next year and the second stage at the
end of 2011.
He says they are planning something
similar for the northern end of campus
as well.
Dr Ede says the USU has been involved
in proposals for changes to the Hub, “to
consolidate student’s views” however, the
USU did not disclose their proposal details
to In Unison in time to print.
usu
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