The IT department of University College London is in meltdown after a spam attack deluged the inboxes of over 25,000 students and many of the tech dunces there compounded the problem by replying to the all-student list.
The unsolicited email – sent to all students – was spoofed to look like it came from university provost and president Michael Arthur, and contained just one word: “bello.”
The problem was apparently compounded because some Gower street-ers replied to the all-student list, resulting in some waking up on Thursday morning to thousands of emails in their inbox.
The university’s IT department said it was a “simple spam attack using a mailing list” and eventually issued the following statement:
"I am sorry to inform you that overnight, multiple emails (perhaps up to 1,000) have been received by students on an all-student email list.
Some of these purport to come from the UCL President & Provost, Professor Michael Arthur via the previous Provost's e-mail address, provost(at)ucl.ac.uk. However, unfortunately, the problem was compounded because replies were posted to the list, and the email address was used to subscribe to various sites.
UCL ISD are investigating this problem as a matter of urgency.”
However, it wasn’t long before those quick-witted, time-rich students leapt upon the situation to create mischief of a kind Jeremy Bentham himself would be proud.
Using the provost’s email address, they signed him up several online porn site accounts including OKCupid, PornHub and GayPornTalent.
Other sites that the president of one of the world’s leading universities is now a member of include the Sarah Palin Channel, a One Direction fan club site and perhaps most disturbingly of all, a Coldplay mailing list.
Perhaps not appreciating the massive privacy breach that had just occurred, democracy and communications officer, Hannah Sketchley, told The Telegraph: “I would say that obviously, on the face of it, it is quite funny. We are all, including myself, riffing off the word bello. But it is a serious issue that UCL has to sort out, especially if it’s spreading to other universities.”
For those who want to find out more, including many Lionel Richie references, check out #bellogate on Twitter.