Undergraduate student government candidates running from the
Students United for Reform and Equality slate awoke Tuesday morning
to find their slate Web site hacked into and altered to include
misleading information about the slate.
For a few hours Tuesday, students who logged onto the S.U.R.E.
Web site from on-campus housing or off-campus locations were
redirected to a site that included confusing information about
S.U.R.E.’s goals and principles. The computers on campus were
not affected.
The creators of the fraudulent site stated that some of
S.U.R.E.’s goals included “manipulation,”
increasing funding for its allies and decreasing diversity on
campus. It also included numerous links to the University of
Southern California Web site.
The original Web site, which includes candidate information and
the slate’s platform was restored late Tuesday afternoon.
Josh Lawson, a general representative candidate from the
S.U.R.E. slate, said he had filed a complaint with the
Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Elections
Board.
E-board will investigate the issue, said E-board Chairman Joe
Vardner. Vardner said if a candidate was found guilty of hacking,
he or she may be subject to disqualification from the election.
S.U.R.E. candidates said the Web site was an important resource
for voters.
“The Web site allows candidates to talk more in
detail,” Lawson said, adding that last week the site
experienced over 1,000 hits.
Members of S.U.R.E. also said it was unfortunate such incidents
were occurring.
That people are resorting to illegal measures shows how
desperate they are, Lawson said.
“This is a student election … its being taken way too
seriously,” said Marcello Robinson, a cultural affairs
commissioner candidate from S.U.R.E.
Robinson filed a complaint with university police that his
signboard on Bruin Walk had been vandalized.
Students First! candidates, who have not encountered problems
with their Web site, said they were not involved in
S.U.R.E.’s hacking incident.
“I know for a fact that none of the SF! candidates or
volunteers would do anything of that sort,” said
president-elect Anica McKesey.
Candidates from United Independents, the third slate who
competed in the past week’s election, also denied
involvement. U.I. did not obtain any seats on council and did not
get enough votes to compete in this week’s runoff
elections.
Kendra Carney, the former U.I. internal vice presidential
candidate, said as far as she knows, U.I. is not involved.
Hacking incidents have not been limited to the S.U.R.E Web
site.
The Daily Bruin Web site was intruded this past week, when poll
results about the elections were tampered with.
Despite the incidents of hacking associated with this
year’s elections, E-board Adviser Mike Cohn said it is highly
unlikely the elections results would be altered. He said the MyUCLA
Web site is governed by the highest of security measures.