Students at University College Dublin "hacked" into the college's computer last month to gain access to the results of their Christmas exams a week in advance of their publication, the college has confirmed.
The incident arose after an unidentified student or students managed to correctly work out the web address for a restricted area of the college's high-tech student information system. This contained provisional results for their most recent set of exams, which had yet to be formally ratified and which were due go "live" one week later on January 29th.
However, those involved only had access to their own provisional results on the password-protected site, and could not alter or amend the information contained there.
According to a report in UCD's student newspaper, the University Observer, the students in question could face disciplinary action as a result of the breach. However, it is thought that this is now unlikely.
A spokeswoman for UCD said its IT team continuously reviewed its procedures and would be doing so as a matter of course. Access to the site was immediately barred by college authorities once they became aware of the situation at the end of last month.
"I think we've learned a lesson, but it really wasn't of any more concern than that . . . there was never a danger of any other student's information being circulated," she said. "It's more embarrassing than anything else . . . I don't think anybody need be concerned regarding the data protection aspect."
It remained unclear yesterday how many students accessed their results in advance of their release.
The college spokeswoman said first- and second-year students on modularised courses in all disciplines were affected. She was aware of two instances where individuals had done so. However, UCD students' union education officer Brian Doyle said he knew of about 10-12 people who had accessed the information.