Lecturer and three students charged with hacking Malta’s largest student app

Three students and a lecturer have been charged with hacking Malta’s largest student app, FreeHour, more than two years after they reported security vulnerabilities to the company.

The students being charged are Michael Debono, 22, Giorgio Grigolo, 21, and Luke Bjorn Scerri, 23 . They are all being accused of gaining unauthorised access to the app.

Grigolo is also charged with making an alteration to the app even though he changed the app back to its original state shortly after.

Luke Collins, who had also been arrested in 2022, has not been charged.

Lecturer Mark Joseph Vella, 45, is also being charged as an accomplice, after proofreading a certain email sent to Freehour by the students.

All those accused have pleaded not guilty.

Back in October 2022, the students scanned the app’s software and discovered vulnerabilities in it.

Giorgio Grigolo made a change to the app to inform FreeHour of this vulnerability. He then took a screenshot of the change and then reverted everything back to its original state shortly after.

The students then emailed FreeHour’s founder, Zach Ciappara, outlining their findings and asked for a reward in return for finding this mistake.

After receiving the email, Ciappara reported the matter to the police and an investigation was opened.

Scerri, Grigolo, and Debono were arrested at their homes in November of 2022 arrested and taken into custody. Police strip-searched them, searched their homes, and seized various tech devices and equipment.

The case court was presided over by Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia.

The prosecution was led by inspectors Markus Cachia and Warren Muscat, alongside Attorney General lawyers Mauro Abela and Daniel Vancell.

The lecturer, Vella, is being defended by lawyers Michael Sciriha and Lucio Sciriha

The students are represented by defence lawyers Joe Giglio, Michaela Giglio, and Roberto Montalto.