20 ms·

Reporter who told Missouri officials of website flaw did 'nothing out of line'

344 points by danso 5y ago

bellyfullofbac 5y ago
The title truncation is so unhelpful and IMO editorialising. Is it ", judge said", meaning case closed and the statement can be said as fact? Is it maybe a quote from an institution like the EFF, defending him? Nope, it's ", emails said"...
- danso 5y ago
  I tried every variation to get the hed to fit under 80 chars — it was either “emails said” or “Missouri” In any case, the “nothing out of line” comes from a security expert reviewing the emails: > While Missouri officials redacted most of Renaud’s second email, Katie Moussouris, the CEO of Luta Security, told StateScoop it appears he took all the right steps in disclosing a vulnerability. > “Nothing in what you’ve shared with me looks like it was out of line with sensible coordinated vulnerability disclosure activities of any researcher trying to protect victims of sensitive data exposure,” said Moussouris, a co-author of the international standards for vulnerability disclosures.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    >fit under 80 chars Is it 1985 with a CRT TTY? This limitation is laughable.
    - bee_rider 5y ago
      Is this the CRT and fake news we've been told to worry about? It seems underwhelming.
    - danso 5y ago
      That’s the limitation HN imposes on submission titles. Anything longer will not go through.
      - dylan604 5y ago
        I understand why. It doesn't make it any less laughable. Don't editorialize the title, except we're going to make it impossible not to. eyerolllikeimateenager
obiwan14 5y ago
That's shocking! I thought the reporting was guilty of the most heinous crime in the history of the state of Missouri. /s
danso 5y ago
Previous thread from 3 weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28867562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28867562 Recent developments: - The CS professor whose expert opinion was quoted by the newspaper article is demanding an apology and legal expenses from the state, alleging that the governor defamed and violated his free speech rights. - The governor's political fundraising committee is running ads making this a "fake news" issue. The email that the reporter sent, in advance of publishing the article revealing the state education website's data leakage: > “I recently discovered a significant exposure of the sensitive data of more than 100,000 teachers on a DESE website,” Renaud wrote to the agency’s communications chief, Mallory McGowin. “At this point I am confident what I found is a genuine vulnerability — I have confirmed with three teachers from different districts that their data was exposed. I also have consulted an UMSL cybersecurity researcher who verified my findings. The P-D plans to publish a story about this sensitive data exposure, but we wanted to inform DESE first so that you would have a chance to mitigate the problem.” > Renaud shared his timeline for publishing the story and asked for interviews with officials from DESE and the Missouri Office of Administration’s Information Technology Services Division. In a second email sent about 45 minutes later, he described the steps he’d taken in finding and confirming the vulnerability.
- docmechanic 5y ago
  Thanks for the update. Not surprised to see the governor making the "fake news" argument rather than trying to criminalize the reading of HTML code - in browsers only - across the state of Missouri.
  - smnrchrds 5y ago
    A few years ago an American lawyer wrote a book called Three Felonies a Day [0] whose premise is that "the average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day". If pressing F12 is a crime, the average software developer must be committing three felonies an hour. [0] https://www.amazon.ca/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229 https://www.amazon.ca/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...
shadowgovt 5y ago
I know that "bleeds it leads" is the rule for journalism, but I sort of wish there were a way to tell people to stop giving this story oxygen. The governor knows his claims are foolish and he knows he's building a controversy out of thin air. It's playing great with his constituents, and the fact that his position of power inclines people to take him seriously means he can get away with it.
- TillE 5y ago
  > It's playing great with his constituents Doubtful. This is absolutely one of those cases where public attention and pressure can spare someone from getting lost in the legal system. Burying the story only helps those abusing their power.
  - shadowgovt 5y ago
    Regarding "It's playing great with his constituents:" His PAC is running ads like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBPeRa7U8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBPeRa7U8E To a lot of us, that looks like nonsense, but you have to remember how far through the looking-glass a lot of the conservative populace has gone... The press is now the enemy in their mind, and they don't understand technology well enough to get why these claims are ridiculous. So he gets to build steam and any pushback is just seen as more "fake news" coverage that would (of course) support their fellows in the media. It's deeply frustrating because it's a form of social jujitsu built atop existing mistrust, and there aren't good ways to combat it.
- afavour 5y ago
  Why would refusing to cover the story stop that problem? He’s literally running ads with it so it’s going to get plenty of oxygen no matter what. Might as well true to get the actual truth out there as well.
- BeefySwain 5y ago
  I understand your point, but what's the alternative? The answer can't be roll over and ignore people negligently/dangerously ignorant people in positions of power. If your premise is true (that the harder those who understand this push against it, the harder he will push back, and the voters of his state like him for that) then there is no winning strategy here.
alexjplant 5y ago
The DoE is complicit in this as well (from the original article): > In the letter to teachers, Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said “an individual took the records of at least three educators, unencrypted the source code from the webpage, and viewed the social security number (SSN) of those specific educators.” > But in the press release, DESE called the person who discovered the vulnerability a “hacker” and said that individual “took the records of at least three educators” This squares perfectly with my own experience. As a middle schooler I had several interactions with my school system's IT department where they baselessly accused me of hacking and malicious intent; I responsibly disclosed a method of bypassing their web content filter and they responded by going through my roaming profile and leveling charges at me of "remotely hacking computer systems" because of a screenshot of a terminal emulator they found. I was a good kid with a perfect disciplinary record. In retrospect it was a series of incompetent staffers covering for their inability by bullying a child. The US needs to stop using public facilities (schools, the military, etc) as white-collar welfare and hire more people that actually care. Ignorance is forgivable but when combined with a steadfast opposition to personal growth it becomes malicious. It'd be better for society to fire clowns like these and administer them unemployment than to have them crowd out those that actually give a shit. *EDIT: To clarify for anybody that would read the above as "government workers don't care": there are plenty that do. I break bread with them and want them to be able to do their jobs unimpeded by the ones that _don't_.
- ivalm 5y ago
  > hire people that actually care One thing to note is that hiring skilled IT workers is often outside budget capabilities. It’s not that they want to hire someone incompetent, they simply can’t afford to hire someone competent.
  - sirspacey 5y ago
    No. There has been massive interest in modernizing these systems. It’s the beliefs and attitudes of leadership that cause well intentioned engineers who are willing to take a lower salary to leave
  - deleted 5y ago
tppiotrowski 5y ago
Related political ad: https://youtu.be/9IBPeRa7U8E https://youtu.be/9IBPeRa7U8E
- the_only_law 5y ago
  I’m going to start referring to anything I read as “decoding”.
  - amatecha 5y ago
    "Just poured a fresh cup of coffee and reading- errr decoding Hacker News!"
- depaya 5y ago
  My god, the nerve they have to end that video with "UNITING MISSOURI"
- dncornholio 5y ago
  What the actual fuck is going on in this world.
mabbo 5y ago
All I've learned from this entire escapade is that the next time someone finds a major vulnerability in a Missouri state website, they will know that the best path forward is to sell it to criminals. They make some money and they don't have the Governor attacking their reputation.
- jimt1234 5y ago
  Excellent point. But I don't think anyone is gonna pay much for "Right-click. View source code. Done." LOL
  - mabbo 5y ago
    Then don't tell them the source. Just "Hey, I've got 100,000 full names of living people with valid social security numbers, what will you pay me for them?". I have no idea what the market for those are, but I can imagine it being a better deal than having politicians trying to have you arrested.
    - buitreVirtual 5y ago
      If they know the data is from Missourians, they won't pay a dime. That data is already considered leaked.
- karlkloss 5y ago
  > All I've learned from this entire escapade is that the next time someone finds a major vulnerability they will know that the best path forward is to sell it to criminals. I fixed that for you.
dekhn 5y ago
The state is not proceeding with any legal actions, right? And they're not, because they've already concluded the governor is full of crap, right? So far all I've seen here is the governor repeatedly make a fool of himself while the rest of the state is backing away slowly from the crazy old man. The STL Dispatch actually really wants the state to try to sue here, and I don't think Parsons quite appreciates just how much trouble his statements can get him in.
- tombert 5y ago
  I know nothing about law, but would there be ground for some form of defamation here? At this point, the governor has had what the reporter did thoroughly explained to him, and he keeps claiming that this is "hacking" seemingly just because he's embarrassed. From my perspective, it seems like he's outright lying and making accusations of criminal activity, in order to besmirch the name of someone he doesn't like.
  - torstenvl 5y ago
    In the U.S., defamation is generally covered by state law, with very few exceptions. There's also usually substantial immunity for officials acting in an official capacity (Parsons is addressing an issue of governmental embarrassment not personal embarrassment). I think the better route is impeachment for failing to take care that the laws are faithfully executed and abuse of office. But it's not clear that Missouri provides a way for the newspaper or any individual to force that issue.
    - bagels 5y ago
      I don't think the campaign video is anyone acting in an official capacity though.
  - dekhn 5y ago
    you're turning the case around- yes, you're right, the reporter and academic could sue, but it's not worth it (the defamation wasn't particularly effective) IMHO. It would mainly just make money for lawyers and mildly embarass the state. Realistically, there's an IT executive in the Missouri government who screwed up, and the newspaper should be suing the state for criminal infosec practices (they did, after all, leak individual SSNs).
randombits0 5y ago
It’s so much faster when you search ssn’s clientside!
mlindner 5y ago
This is all setting up for a lawsuit against the government for libel. Especially as the governor now is amplifying his attack rather than backing down. When they first went on the attack you could play it off with an excuse that they didn't know any better, but after they were informed, it's now into the territory of libel. However IANAL.
infogulch 5y ago
As a Missouri resident, what is the best method of contacting these baffons (and their opponents) to voice my displeasure with this appalling response from state officials?
- themitigating 5y ago
  Stop voting for Republicans
  - destitude 5y ago
    As much as this feels good to say this there are still Republicans that are ethical, responsible people.. and plenty of Democrats who are not.. so let's refrain from stereotyping.
    - tremon 5y ago
      The GP's advice was sound, just incomplete: ...and stop voting for Democrats. The only way to effect change is to break the duopoly.
      - infogulch 5y ago
        Agreed, what people fail to grasp when they're frothing at the mouth about how their opponents are evil (which is reflected back at them by people on the other side) is that this state of extreme division is the fuel that perpetuates the problem. Your participation in "putting the other side down" is the very thing that fuels a mutually beneficial relationship that is best characterized as symbiotic not oppositional. The only out is ending the symbiotic relationship at the place that fuels it and breaking the duopoly. And not giving in to cynicism. "This video will make you angry" - https://youtu.be/rE3j_RHkqJc https://youtu.be/rE3j_RHkqJc
- wolverine876 5y ago
  Vote for someone else (yesterday, preferably).
- 5y ago
wolverine876 5y ago
It looks like part of the attack on the free press, and on dissent generally, by the governor's political grouping. Freedom won't survive unless the public makes it a higher priority than political power. People who support that political grouping need to make it clear to their representatives that liberty comes first.
idworks1 5y ago
The governor's stance is just posture. "We take these matters seriously". It reminds me of that time, a few years after I was out of college and into a job. My professor contacted me to demo my class project to her students. To give them an idea of what they can do with web development. Her assistant told me that they couldn't figure out how to run it. Of course, I took a day off from work, opened back up my school project, fixed the annoying bug. The web page required IIS to run so I could make Ajax requests. I decided to hardcode the data in json instead. So I went to school to present my project. The professor was double clicking the file and it wasn't displaying properly. I inserted my USB stick, and ran it from there instead. The coral reef restaurant website appeared on the big screen. I explained that I had to make some changes so it would work locally. Before, I was using a web server. "Web server?" she shouted. "You are not allowed to use a web server. So you guys cheated!" At first, I thought she was just kidding. I explained that Chapter 12 specifically asks to boot up IIS in order to make use of Ajax. During my time, the rest of the class stopped at chapter 10. I completed the entire book because I was just in love with learning JavaScript. So unless you get to chapter 12, you don't learn about Ajax. "I'll have to report you. They board might revoke your grade. Not just you but all your group." You can only imagine how pale I became. But I understood what was happening. She had tried to run the project multiple times and failed. She couldn't debug it or figure out the issue. To save face in front of the class, she accused me of having cheated. This is the exact thing the Missourians officials are doing. No, at the end of the day my grades were not revokes. Plus I had dropped out of college and was working in the field for a few couple years already. But it goes to show you the length people would go just to save face.

344 points by danso 5y ago

The title truncation is so unhelpful and IMO editorialising. Is it ", judge said", meaning case closed and the statement can be said as fact? Is it maybe a quote from an institution like the EFF, defending him? Nope, it's ", emails said"...

danso 5y ago
I tried every variation to get the hed to fit under 80 chars — it was either “emails said” or “Missouri” In any case, the “nothing out of line” comes from a security expert reviewing the emails: > While Missouri officials redacted most of Renaud’s second email, Katie Moussouris, the CEO of Luta Security, told StateScoop it appears he took all the right steps in disclosing a vulnerability. > “Nothing in what you’ve shared with me looks like it was out of line with sensible coordinated vulnerability disclosure activities of any researcher trying to protect victims of sensitive data exposure,” said Moussouris, a co-author of the international standards for vulnerability disclosures.
- dylan604 5y ago
  >fit under 80 chars Is it 1985 with a CRT TTY? This limitation is laughable.
  - bee_rider 5y ago
    Is this the CRT and fake news we've been told to worry about? It seems underwhelming.
  - danso 5y ago
    That’s the limitation HN imposes on submission titles. Anything longer will not go through.
    - dylan604 5y ago
      I understand why. It doesn't make it any less laughable. Don't editorialize the title, except we're going to make it impossible not to. eyerolllikeimateenager

obiwan14 5y ago

That's shocking! I thought the reporting was guilty of the most heinous crime in the history of the state of Missouri. /s

danso 5y ago

Previous thread from 3 weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28867562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28867562 Recent developments: - The CS professor whose expert opinion was quoted by the newspaper article is demanding an apology and legal expenses from the state, alleging that the governor defamed and violated his free speech rights. - The governor's political fundraising committee is running ads making this a "fake news" issue. The email that the reporter sent, in advance of publishing the article revealing the state education website's data leakage: > “I recently discovered a significant exposure of the sensitive data of more than 100,000 teachers on a DESE website,” Renaud wrote to the agency’s communications chief, Mallory McGowin. “At this point I am confident what I found is a genuine vulnerability — I have confirmed with three teachers from different districts that their data was exposed. I also have consulted an UMSL cybersecurity researcher who verified my findings. The P-D plans to publish a story about this sensitive data exposure, but we wanted to inform DESE first so that you would have a chance to mitigate the problem.” > Renaud shared his timeline for publishing the story and asked for interviews with officials from DESE and the Missouri Office of Administration’s Information Technology Services Division. In a second email sent about 45 minutes later, he described the steps he’d taken in finding and confirming the vulnerability.

docmechanic 5y ago
Thanks for the update. Not surprised to see the governor making the "fake news" argument rather than trying to criminalize the reading of HTML code - in browsers only - across the state of Missouri.
- smnrchrds 5y ago
  A few years ago an American lawyer wrote a book called Three Felonies a Day [0] whose premise is that "the average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day". If pressing F12 is a crime, the average software developer must be committing three felonies an hour. [0] https://www.amazon.ca/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229 https://www.amazon.ca/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/...

shadowgovt 5y ago

I know that "bleeds it leads" is the rule for journalism, but I sort of wish there were a way to tell people to stop giving this story oxygen. The governor knows his claims are foolish and he knows he's building a controversy out of thin air. It's playing great with his constituents, and the fact that his position of power inclines people to take him seriously means he can get away with it.

TillE 5y ago
> It's playing great with his constituents Doubtful. This is absolutely one of those cases where public attention and pressure can spare someone from getting lost in the legal system. Burying the story only helps those abusing their power.
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  Regarding "It's playing great with his constituents:" His PAC is running ads like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBPeRa7U8E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBPeRa7U8E To a lot of us, that looks like nonsense, but you have to remember how far through the looking-glass a lot of the conservative populace has gone... The press is now the enemy in their mind, and they don't understand technology well enough to get why these claims are ridiculous. So he gets to build steam and any pushback is just seen as more "fake news" coverage that would (of course) support their fellows in the media. It's deeply frustrating because it's a form of social jujitsu built atop existing mistrust, and there aren't good ways to combat it.
afavour 5y ago
Why would refusing to cover the story stop that problem? He’s literally running ads with it so it’s going to get plenty of oxygen no matter what. Might as well true to get the actual truth out there as well.
BeefySwain 5y ago
I understand your point, but what's the alternative? The answer can't be roll over and ignore people negligently/dangerously ignorant people in positions of power. If your premise is true (that the harder those who understand this push against it, the harder he will push back, and the voters of his state like him for that) then there is no winning strategy here.

alexjplant 5y ago

The DoE is complicit in this as well (from the original article): > In the letter to teachers, Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said “an individual took the records of at least three educators, unencrypted the source code from the webpage, and viewed the social security number (SSN) of those specific educators.” > But in the press release, DESE called the person who discovered the vulnerability a “hacker” and said that individual “took the records of at least three educators” This squares perfectly with my own experience. As a middle schooler I had several interactions with my school system's IT department where they baselessly accused me of hacking and malicious intent; I responsibly disclosed a method of bypassing their web content filter and they responded by going through my roaming profile and leveling charges at me of "remotely hacking computer systems" because of a screenshot of a terminal emulator they found. I was a good kid with a perfect disciplinary record. In retrospect it was a series of incompetent staffers covering for their inability by bullying a child. The US needs to stop using public facilities (schools, the military, etc) as white-collar welfare and hire more people that actually care. Ignorance is forgivable but when combined with a steadfast opposition to personal growth it becomes malicious. It'd be better for society to fire clowns like these and administer them unemployment than to have them crowd out those that actually give a shit. *EDIT: To clarify for anybody that would read the above as "government workers don't care": there are plenty that do. I break bread with them and want them to be able to do their jobs unimpeded by the ones that _don't_.

ivalm 5y ago
> hire people that actually care One thing to note is that hiring skilled IT workers is often outside budget capabilities. It’s not that they want to hire someone incompetent, they simply can’t afford to hire someone competent.
- sirspacey 5y ago
  No. There has been massive interest in modernizing these systems. It’s the beliefs and attitudes of leadership that cause well intentioned engineers who are willing to take a lower salary to leave
- deleted 5y ago

tppiotrowski 5y ago

Related political ad: https://youtu.be/9IBPeRa7U8E https://youtu.be/9IBPeRa7U8E

the_only_law 5y ago
I’m going to start referring to anything I read as “decoding”.
- amatecha 5y ago
  "Just poured a fresh cup of coffee and reading- errr decoding Hacker News!"
depaya 5y ago
My god, the nerve they have to end that video with "UNITING MISSOURI"
dncornholio 5y ago
What the actual fuck is going on in this world.

mabbo 5y ago

All I've learned from this entire escapade is that the next time someone finds a major vulnerability in a Missouri state website, they will know that the best path forward is to sell it to criminals. They make some money and they don't have the Governor attacking their reputation.

jimt1234 5y ago
Excellent point. But I don't think anyone is gonna pay much for "Right-click. View source code. Done." LOL
- mabbo 5y ago
  Then don't tell them the source. Just "Hey, I've got 100,000 full names of living people with valid social security numbers, what will you pay me for them?". I have no idea what the market for those are, but I can imagine it being a better deal than having politicians trying to have you arrested.
  - buitreVirtual 5y ago
    If they know the data is from Missourians, they won't pay a dime. That data is already considered leaked.
karlkloss 5y ago
> All I've learned from this entire escapade is that the next time someone finds a major vulnerability they will know that the best path forward is to sell it to criminals. I fixed that for you.

dekhn 5y ago

The state is not proceeding with any legal actions, right? And they're not, because they've already concluded the governor is full of crap, right? So far all I've seen here is the governor repeatedly make a fool of himself while the rest of the state is backing away slowly from the crazy old man. The STL Dispatch actually really wants the state to try to sue here, and I don't think Parsons quite appreciates just how much trouble his statements can get him in.

tombert 5y ago
I know nothing about law, but would there be ground for some form of defamation here? At this point, the governor has had what the reporter did thoroughly explained to him, and he keeps claiming that this is "hacking" seemingly just because he's embarrassed. From my perspective, it seems like he's outright lying and making accusations of criminal activity, in order to besmirch the name of someone he doesn't like.
- torstenvl 5y ago
  In the U.S., defamation is generally covered by state law, with very few exceptions. There's also usually substantial immunity for officials acting in an official capacity (Parsons is addressing an issue of governmental embarrassment not personal embarrassment). I think the better route is impeachment for failing to take care that the laws are faithfully executed and abuse of office. But it's not clear that Missouri provides a way for the newspaper or any individual to force that issue.
  - bagels 5y ago
    I don't think the campaign video is anyone acting in an official capacity though.
- dekhn 5y ago
  you're turning the case around- yes, you're right, the reporter and academic could sue, but it's not worth it (the defamation wasn't particularly effective) IMHO. It would mainly just make money for lawyers and mildly embarass the state. Realistically, there's an IT executive in the Missouri government who screwed up, and the newspaper should be suing the state for criminal infosec practices (they did, after all, leak individual SSNs).

randombits0 5y ago

It’s so much faster when you search ssn’s clientside!

mlindner 5y ago

This is all setting up for a lawsuit against the government for libel. Especially as the governor now is amplifying his attack rather than backing down. When they first went on the attack you could play it off with an excuse that they didn't know any better, but after they were informed, it's now into the territory of libel. However IANAL.

infogulch 5y ago

As a Missouri resident, what is the best method of contacting these baffons (and their opponents) to voice my displeasure with this appalling response from state officials?

themitigating 5y ago
Stop voting for Republicans
- destitude 5y ago
  As much as this feels good to say this there are still Republicans that are ethical, responsible people.. and plenty of Democrats who are not.. so let's refrain from stereotyping.
  - tremon 5y ago
    The GP's advice was sound, just incomplete: ...and stop voting for Democrats. The only way to effect change is to break the duopoly.
    - infogulch 5y ago
      Agreed, what people fail to grasp when they're frothing at the mouth about how their opponents are evil (which is reflected back at them by people on the other side) is that this state of extreme division is the fuel that perpetuates the problem. Your participation in "putting the other side down" is the very thing that fuels a mutually beneficial relationship that is best characterized as symbiotic not oppositional. The only out is ending the symbiotic relationship at the place that fuels it and breaking the duopoly. And not giving in to cynicism. "This video will make you angry" - https://youtu.be/rE3j_RHkqJc https://youtu.be/rE3j_RHkqJc
wolverine876 5y ago
Vote for someone else (yesterday, preferably).
5y ago

wolverine876 5y ago

It looks like part of the attack on the free press, and on dissent generally, by the governor's political grouping. Freedom won't survive unless the public makes it a higher priority than political power. People who support that political grouping need to make it clear to their representatives that liberty comes first.

idworks1 5y ago

The governor's stance is just posture. "We take these matters seriously". It reminds me of that time, a few years after I was out of college and into a job. My professor contacted me to demo my class project to her students. To give them an idea of what they can do with web development. Her assistant told me that they couldn't figure out how to run it. Of course, I took a day off from work, opened back up my school project, fixed the annoying bug. The web page required IIS to run so I could make Ajax requests. I decided to hardcode the data in json instead. So I went to school to present my project. The professor was double clicking the file and it wasn't displaying properly. I inserted my USB stick, and ran it from there instead. The coral reef restaurant website appeared on the big screen. I explained that I had to make some changes so it would work locally. Before, I was using a web server. "Web server?" she shouted. "You are not allowed to use a web server. So you guys cheated!" At first, I thought she was just kidding. I explained that Chapter 12 specifically asks to boot up IIS in order to make use of Ajax. During my time, the rest of the class stopped at chapter 10. I completed the entire book because I was just in love with learning JavaScript. So unless you get to chapter 12, you don't learn about Ajax. "I'll have to report you. They board might revoke your grade. Not just you but all your group." You can only imagine how pale I became. But I understood what was happening. She had tried to run the project multiple times and failed. She couldn't debug it or figure out the issue. To save face in front of the class, she accused me of having cheated. This is the exact thing the Missourians officials are doing. No, at the end of the day my grades were not revokes. Plus I had dropped out of college and was working in the field for a few couple years already. But it goes to show you the length people would go just to save face.