University seeks FIA investigation after unauthorized access affects records of 32 students across dozens of courses
FAISALABAD: Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF) has reported a serious breach of its information technology system after unidentified individuals allegedly accessed faculty portals and manipulated students’ examination results, raising concerns over the security of academic records.
According to university officials, unauthorized users gained access to teachers’ online portals and attempted to increase the marks of 32 students across 72 courses. However, the Controller of Examinations’ office discovered discrepancies between manually maintained records and results entered into the university’s online system.
Consequently, officials withheld the affected results before the altered information could become part of the university’s final academic record.
FIA Cyber Crime Wing asked to investigate
Following the discovery, the university formally approached the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Wing and requested an investigation to identify those responsible for the unauthorized access.
In its complaint, the university alleged that unidentified individuals had received money in exchange for manipulating students’ marks. Furthermore, investigators were informed that faculty portals belonging to several teachers had repeatedly been accessed from a single Internet Protocol address on different dates.
Officials hope a forensic investigation of the digital records will establish how the intruders obtained access and determine whether individuals inside or outside the institution facilitated the alleged manipulation.
University says bogus certificates were not issued
Despite the attempted alteration of academic records, university officials said no student received a fraudulent detailed marks certificate based on the manipulated results.
The detection of differences between physical and digital records allowed the administration to stop the affected results before certificates were issued.
Nevertheless, the incident has raised serious questions about cybersecurity safeguards surrounding the university’s examination system and access controls for faculty accounts.
The university is expected to review its existing security mechanisms while the FIA investigates the alleged breach, financial transactions and repeated unauthorized access.
Authorities have not yet announced any arrests or publicly identified suspects connected with the case.
