Cyber Threat Actor: Daniel Soares

Daniel Soares, also known by the alias Daniel Soares, is a former student from Commack, New York, in the United States of America. In May 2015 he was accused of installing a hardware keylogger on a classroom computer at Commack High School after school hours. The device recorded keystrokes, allowing him to capture login names and passwords used on that machine. Using those credentials he accessed the school’s internal system and altered his own grades in physics, economics and history, as well as the grades of a fellow student. He also modified the class schedules of hundreds of other students and viewed student identification numbers, names, addresses and contact information. The breach was detected by school officials, who reported it to the Suffolk County Police Department, leading to a search warrant and Soares’ eventual arrest. He was charged with burglary and computer tampering, while two accomplices faced computer trespass charges. All changes were reversed before grades and schedules were distributed, and no further data was accessed after the breach was contained.

The incident demonstrates a focus on the education sector, specifically a public high school on Long Island, New York, with the actor’s actions confined to a single institution. The observed objective was to manipulate academic records and schedules, which resulted in unauthorized changes to grade data and timetables. The technique employed involved a physical keylogging device as the initial access vector, followed by credential reuse to log into the school’s management system. No malware families or software tools are mentioned in the reporting, and the activity relied solely on hardware interception and legitimate login credentials. There is no public indication of state sponsorship, affiliation with a criminal group, or broader campaign beyond this isolated event. The case remains notable as a documented example of a student using a keylogger to gain unauthorized access to school systems for the purpose of altering academic information.