Warning for VCE students after hacker's claim that exams are available for purchase online

Online scammers have offered to sell students fake VCE exam papers after a hacker infiltrated the exam authority’s website, causing its shutdown and raising questions over its cybersecurity.

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) has warned students against buying the fake exam papers, which it says are designed to exploit anxious students.

Chief executive Andrew Smith said there was no evidence exams had been illegally downloaded, following an investigation overnight.

“I am perplexed and to be frank, I’m pretty angry that somebody would think this would be an appropriate thing to do at this time of year,” Smith said.

“It’s very difficult to put yourself in the mind of someone who thinks it’s a good idea to try to get financial gain and cause distress for students at this point in their exams.”

The VCAA website remained offline on Thursday afternoon after being taken down on Wednesday following the hack 6pm.

Using the alias “DaggerElite”, someone claimed to have accessed the VCAA site and its external printing providers, downloading VCE exams and selling them to “hundreds of students statewide”.

St Kevin’s College, an all-boys school in Toorak, was among those that wrote to students, warning them not to “engage with any entity claiming to have access to examination content”.

“In the same way, do not open, download, or any messages that claim to be related to this matter,” the letter from school leadership read.

“Under no circumstances should students personal information with anyone claiming to sell VCE examinations.”

The hack follows several years of embarrassing bungles for the VCAA, including a “root and branch” inquiry after exam questions were unintentionally published online.

Smith was appointed after the chief executive at the time of the 2024 incident resigned and VCAA board members were sacked.

Smith said the hack had been reported to Victoria Police. He said VCAA was also continuing to investigate the incident.

In response to concerns that students couldn’t access practice exam papers, Smith left the door open to special consideration for those impacted.

“There are processes for students to apply for special considerations if they feel that’s warranted,” he said. “For all other students, we’ll have that website back up and running and with all that material available to students as a matter of urgency.”

In an email to schools on Thursday afternoon, Smith said he was aware that students and teachers might not have access to study designs, past exams and exam information.

Schools were sent the material for applied computing, drama and philosophy exams, which will be held on Friday. They were also informed that they would receive the same for every subject with an upcoming exam.

More than 50,000 students began their VCE exams last month, with English kicking it off for many on October 27.

More than 8600 students sat the physics exam on Thursday morning, while thousands more will sit ancient history, geography and sociology in the afternoon.

Exams will continue on Friday, ahead of the final three days of the 2026 exam period week.

Social media forums were flooded with conversation the hack. Students pointed out that the exam papers being available was probably a scam, while others claimed without any evidence that exams had been leaked.

“This is literally a study distraction,” one wrote.

Nick Lowther, of cybersecurity software company Semperis, said that if the trouble-plagued curriculum and assessment authority was to regain public confidence, it must run an investigation that is broad in scope and include third-party providers and file transfer systems.

“I’d like to see a clear explanation of what was investigated, what evidence was reviewed and whether any gaps remain,” Lowther said. “Until that work is complete, I think it’s reasonable for students, parents and schools to have questions.”

He said the alias DaggerElite was unlikely to be an established hacker based on the tone and language in the message posted on the VCAA website on Wednesday evening.

“It comes across as quite immature and attention-seeking, which could be consistent with a current or former student, although it’s impossible to draw that conclusion based on the wording alone,” he said.

However, Lowther said that just because there was no evidence the exam papers had been accessed didn’t mean the hacker hadn’t accessed the papers.

Education Minister Gabrielle Williams said in a statement that the VCE exams would continue as normal.

Premier Ben Carroll said the government did not believe there had been any disruption to the normal program of VCE exams.

“I’ve done year 12, it’s stressful enough when you’re trying to get through your AFL grand final of studies, stressful enough without having to worry a website being hacked,” Carroll said. “VCE exams will continue as usual.”

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