Cyber Threat Actor: Erick Vaysman

Erick Vaysman,also known by the alias Erick Vaysman, is a individual who was identified as a seventeen‑year‑old student residing in Commack, New York, at the time of the incident. He became known publicly after being linked to an unauthorized intrusion into the computer system of Commack High School in May 2015. The intrusion was carried out by a group of three students, with Vaysman being named as one of the participants whose academic records were altered. Law‑enforcement records show he was charged with computer trespass related to the event. No further personal details about his background or affiliations are provided in the open sources.

The activity was directed against the educational sector, specifically the internal network of a Long Island high school. The actors sought to obtain legitimate login credentials in order to modify academic records, raising grades for themselves and a peer, and to rewrite class schedules for hundreds of students. In addition to the grade and schedule changes, the intruders accessed stored student identification numbers, names, addresses and contact information, although the source material notes that no Social Security numbers or other highly sensitive data were exposed. The described purpose appears to be personal academic advantage rather than financial gain, espionage or broader disruption. The method employed relied on a physical keylogger device that was attached to the keyboard of a classroom computer after school hours. The device recorded every keystroke, allowing the perpetrators to harvest usernames and passwords when they later retrieved the hardware. With those credentials they logged into the school’s data management system and made the unauthorized changes to grades and schedules. No mention is made of malware families, remote exploits or phishing; the initial access vector was purely physical presence and the installation of hardware. The tooling style is therefore characterized by low‑tech, hands‑on manipulation of endpoint equipment.

Attribution to any state‑sponsored group, criminal consortium or larger hacking collective is not indicated in the publicly available reporting; the actors acted as a small group of fellow students. Daniel Soares, who installed the keylogger, faced burglary and computer tampering charges, while Erick Vaysman and Alex Mosquera were each charged with computer trespass. All three were released on their own recognizance after arraignment, and the school district reported that the alterations were corrected before grades and schedules were distributed to students. No further intrusions were observed after the breach was discovered and remedial network controls were enforced.