Accusations of computer criminal activity have been leveled against them for purportedly interfering with the network at the request of their friends.

On Monday, authorities disclosed that two 14-year-old boys have been charged with tampering with their school's Wi-Fi network to escape from exams.

NJ.com has reported that New Jersey high school freshmen are facing charges for computer criminal activity and conspiracy to commit such acts. School officials reached out to the police last Thursday following several instances of the Wi-Fi network crashing.

Capt. Dennis Miller informed NorthJersey.com that school officials at Secaucus High School contacted the Secaucus Police Department to notify them about two students involved in a "scheme to disrupt the school's WiFi service upon request."

Given that they are minors, the identities of these individuals have not been disclosed. They have been returned to their parents and are set to appear in the juvenile family court in Jersey City at an undisclosed future date.

According to Schools Superintendent Jennifer Montesano, the Wi-Fi has been successfully restored and is now functioning as expected. While she did not provide specific information, she did mention that an investigation identified two students who may have played a part in the disruption of our system.

How did they do it?

As per statements from certain students to NJ.com, they suspect that the boys were utilizing a Wi-Fi interrupter program or app to overwhelm the school's routers with traffic in a denial of service (DoS) attack. This attack caused the network to crash when students were trying to log on for classwork or online exams.

The news outlet spoke with a junior student from Secaucus High School who shared that she was made aware of the Wi-Fi issue when a friend mentioned that one of the suspects had been asked to interfere with the signal during an exam.

It was done for both the exam-adverse and for fun, she said:

The purpose behind his actions was to avoid tests and similar obligations. Additionally, one of the boys orchestrated this scheme for the benefit of his friend, ensuring she would not have to undergo a test during the class. Unquestionably, it constituted a substantial prank.

Jamming phones, Wi-Fi and GPS is illegal

Some students were disgruntled – why should the whole class be disrupted because a few kids didn’t feel like squeezing out some brain juice that day? Others were impressed by the boys’ alleged technical acumen and sported more of a “Meh! Nobody got hurt” reaction, like this 10th grader:

It was quite surprising to witness someone of our age, or similar to our age, achieve such a feat.

Regarding the first point, it is suggested that those students do not place too much trust in their classmates' alleged technological prowess. Despite the fact that gsm jammer are illegal to market, sell, or use in the US - except for authorized, official use by the federal government - they are readily accessible online for a few hundred dollars.

With regards to nobody getting hurt when Wi-Fi crashes, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begs to differ. When you use a signal jammer, you’re jamming critical communications, the FCC points out in its jammers FAQ:

Jammers are not just a nuisance; they pose a serious threat to public safety by potentially blocking emergency communications. cell phone jammer do not distinguish between regular phone conversations and emergency calls to family members or 9-1-1 responders. Likewise, GPS and wifi jammer disrupt both routine and essential communication services.

Not long ago, there was an occurrence where a man was prosecuted for a felony after disrupting the phone signals of his fellow commuters. His annoyance with their conversations prompted him to take such action.

It is a possibility that no one suffered any harm due to the school Wi-Fi jamming, but it is imperative for children to realize that this is not just a harmless prank. The repercussions can be serious and should not be ignored.