School Is In Session
Announcements, Tech News — By Andy Mai on January 4, 2010 at 5:37 pmNo school the Monday after a vacation? That’s what many Brooklyn Tech students thought, at approximately 10 PM last night, when an e-mail impersonating Mr. Williams stated the following:
Dear Parent/Student:
As many of you know, Brooklyn Tech. has been going under some serious construction both for a new pool and for repairs at the base of the school. This Friday, one of the workers caused an accident that has escalated into a serious safety hazard for anyone that comes near or inside the school. We have now been forced to close the school until we can repair the damages done.
The Department of Education has issued that we notify all students and parents that we will be closed until further notice. It is estimated, however, that we will be open by the beginning of next week. If you had any projects due for any of your classes, they will be postponed. We will also consider postponing finals, to give teachers time to catch up on anything they may miss due to this unprecedented occurrence.
Normally we would make a call for this, but we are not allowed to access any of the machines inside of the building. I ask that you send this to every fellow Technite you know, so that we can spread this as fast as possible and avoid confusion. I assure you that the new construction workers will fix the problem swiftly, and we will be taking legal action against the construction company for the problem and delay they have caused. Remain alert for any updates, and have a safe and positive few days off.
–
Marc Williams
Assistant Principal of Student and Parent Engagement
Brooklyn Technical High School
718-804-6400
mwilliams@bths.edu
Everyone’s Facebook status was related to either celebrating about the school closing or asking if it was true.
While the e-mail looked authentic, the BTHSnews team jumped on the case. BTHSnews alumnus Josh Margul called 311 to ask about the school closing, while BTHSnews Vice President, Andy Mai, notified students, through BTHSnews’s Facebook fan page, that we were investigating, while BTHSnews Reporter Ilya Rubnich tried to get his hands on the original e-mail.
The e-mail had been sent to all Student Government Executives and had fooled many of the executives. A mass Facebook mailing was sent on the Class of 2011’s Facebook page telling students school was closed without confirming with Mr. Williams about the messege. BTHSnews’s forum had crashed because of the amount of traffic going to one thread.
At 11:09 PM, Mr. Williams responded to the mountain of e-mails asking about the school closing with the following message:
Hello Brooklyn Tech,
I was just made aware of a fake message that seemingly was sent by me stating that the school will be closed tomorrow.
That message is FALSE.
Brooklyn Tech will be open on January 4, 2010.
–
Marc Williams
Assistant Principal of Student and Parent Engagement
Brooklyn Technical High School
718-804-6496
mwilliams@bths.edu
BTHSnews Reporter, Alfred Ng, quickly jumped on the case, making a video informing students there would be school tomorrow (1/4/10). Alfred sarcastically praised the culprit for thinking of such a genius idea. Principal Randy Asher phoned every household, using a machine, to clarify that there would be school on January 4, 2010.
BTHSnews’s efforts to spread the news were recognized in The New York Times and Daily News
Replies from the forums:
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blackmanor1000
says:
Computer crime? Call the FBI.
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Wrong answer. Call the CIA. Nonono call Lloyd Korn (Maplestory private server refrence)
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"This Friday, one of the workers caused an accident that has escalated into a serious safety hazard for anyone that comes near or inside the school."
Friday was January 1st... what kind of construction worker works on New Years?!
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Lacie. You are so cool... guys please try not making irrelevant statements
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Shame the e-mail wasn't true.
*sigh* It's not everyday you get your hopes up about an extra week of vacation.
Hmm... -puts on a ski mask and dark clothes and goes to school with a toolbox-
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Well, I don't really think it's too irrelevant. Somebody hacked into another's e-mail and impersonated him. That sounds like a computer crime to me and the FBI can get involved with that stuff.
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blackmanor1000, on , said:
Well, I don't really think it's too irrelevant. Somebody hacked into another's e-mail and impersonated him. That sounds like a computer crime to me and the FBI can get involved with that stuff.
Spoofing headers: srsly hard.
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blackmanor1000, on , said:
Well, I don't really think it's too irrelevant. Somebody hacked into another's e-mail and impersonated him. That sounds like a computer crime to me and the FBI can get involved with that stuff.
There was no hacking involved. The message did not come from a computer in the school, from Mr. Williams' account, or the BTHS.edu domain/mail server.
I've traced the IP back to the source and the matter is being looked into, by the proper authorities.
I hope I cleared up any misconceptions or speculations some of you had.
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