Scandal at ÖSYM: They infiltrated the system and changed the students’ preference list!

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It was learned that people who infiltrated the ÖSYM website changed the university preference lists of some students. While a lawsuit is being filed at Ankara 24th Administrative Court upon the complaint of four students, it is stated that the number of victims may increase.

Halk TV writer İsmail Saymaz wrote about the scandal that took place at the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) on the night of August 13, when the university preference period ended. According to Saymaz; Minutes before the end of the preference period, individuals infiltrated the ÖSYM website and made changes in the preference lists of some students. While the lawsuit was filed with the application of four students; Saymaz also cited some posts with similar complaints on social media and noted that the number of victimized students may increase.

Saymaz wrote the following:

"The first person to notice this scandal was Izmirli C.Ş. and became his family. C.Ş. managed to rank 23,007th in the numerical field in the Higher Education Institutions Exam on 21-22 June. He reached the score to enter the medical school he dreamed of.

On the last day of university preferences, on the night of August 13, he went to ÖSYM’s page with his father and finalized his list. He marked the medical faculties of public universities in the first 22 places. He listed dentistry faculties in his last two choices.

He shut down the system at 23.28. He was excited. He couldn’t sleep.

When he went back to the page at 00.07 to browse through his preferences, his world collapsed. The list was changed and the elderly care departments of private universities were marked.

Father C. woke up to his daughter’s screams. They checked it on the computer. They went to the police station at night and filed a complaint. They wrote to the Presidential Communication Center. They applied to the Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in the morning. On the same day, they went to the capital and petitioned ÖSYM and filed a lawsuit against the institution at Ankara 24th Administrative Court.

The internet address (IP) entered into C.Ş.’s system was found. This address belonged to the house of MHC, who lives in Ümraniye, Istanbul. In his statement, MHC said that they stayed with their daughter that night and were not at home. He said that he did not know C.Ş. and that the girl did not change her preferences.

A lawsuit was filed against MHC on the charge of ‘unlawfully obtaining personal data’.

Ankara 24th Administrative Court wrote to ÖSYM and asked if there was any other complaint or lawsuit. C.Ş.’s family thought that their daughter was the only example. It turned out that there were four of them. YS in Giresun, MB in Hatay, and EN in Istanbul were complaining.

C.Ş.’s preferences were changed at 23.37, and YS’s at 23.42. C.Ş., YS and MB’s systems were accessed from the same IP address. Only the port numbers (Port) were different.

Their victimizations had common characteristics. For example, an attempt was made to access e-government applications from Ukraine and Russia a day or two apart. The choice of two of them was changed to elderly care department at private universities."