SnohomishTimes.com

GP's Wi-Fi not Hacked

Thursday, November 29, 2018
GP's Wi-Fi not Hacked

Glacier Peak High School’s winter pep assembly fraught with racist and homophobic Wi-Fi hotspot names, including swastikas. They began popping up on hundreds of student cellphones during Glacier Peak High School’s winter pep assembly Thursday, according to an email from the Snohomish School District.

In an email statement Thursday afternoon, two students involved had been identified and “disciplined according to district policy, guided by the seriousness of their actions.”


The school district said it’s working with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office to determine if any other students were involved.

Sarah, a junior at Glacier Peak High School, said students were at the winter pep assembly when students started receiving notifications on their phones of available with terrible names.

Sarah said she didn’t immediately realize what was going on but said his principal grabbed the microphone at the assembly, mentioned school safety, his disappointment in the actions of attendees and abruptly ended the assembly.

Sarah, who was part of the pep leadership team, later realized what happened while walking back to class.

The school district said the two students involved were at the assembly.

It’s not yet clear yet how the students were able to send out the long list of network hotspot names. The school district said the high school’s Wi-Fi network was not hacked.

Students we talked to said they probably set the Wi-Fi names on their own phones which explains why everyone at the assembly could see them.

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office said its IT team is now investigating.

The high school said in an email to parents that it’s working on plans “to address threatening and discriminatory behaviors.”

Susan Elvig, a parent of past and present students at Glacier Peak, said she was surprised but these revelations and thinks that it’s despicable. She went on to say she gives Glacier Peak nothing but high marks in all her dealings with the school and its administration.

“I wouldn’t want my kids to go anywhere else,” Susan said emphatically.