A YOUNG Chinese undergraduate on a scholarship to study here was accused yesterday of hacking into computers at his alma mater, Raffles Junior College (RJC).

According to Subordinate Court documents, 21-year- old Zhao Ke is alleged to have illegally accessed a 'system administrator' account this March.

Using this account, he then allegedly installed a hacking program called 'Lanhelper' to steal information from computers used by RJC teachers.

System administrator accounts are super accounts that offer the user extra privileges, such as installing programs that a computer's security programs would usually block.

Zhao, who said he was now at the National University of Singapore with a scholarship to do a double degree in electrical engineering and economics, was charged with 12 counts under the Computer Misuse Act.

The prosecution intends to proceed on two of the 12 charges, one for illegal access and the other for illegal data modification.

The remaining 10 charges will be taken into account during sentencing if he is convicted.

If Zhao is found guilty - and he told the court he intended to plead guilty to the charges - he is looking at up to $15,000 in fines and up to five years in jail for the two offences.

His case will be heard next Friday, and he was granted $8,000 bail.

However, it was not clear last night if Zhao had been released. By the time the bail centre closed last night, Zhao had not left the premises.

His bail guarantor had also told the court that he was not sure he would put up bail.

The guarantor, who declined to give his name, told The Straits Times that his wife was a former colleague of Zhao's mother in China, so he did not know Zhao well.

He had, in fact, found out about Zhao's troubles only on Thursday, when the student approached him to put up $10,000 police bail.

This is bail imposed by the police to ensure accused persons appear in court when asked to do so.

Zhao, he added, had not told his parents of his legal predicament.

In a short interview with The Straits Times before his case was called, Zhao claimed he had scored straight As for his A levels, which he sat for last year on a Ministry of Education scholarship.

He also said he scored two distinctions and a merit for his three 'Special' Papers, which were extra courses reserved for the best and brightest A-level students.

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