Cybersecurity Expert Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol issued important warnings about the recently popular “digital homework and thesis sites” among students, stating that pirate homework sites expose students to blackmail, data theft, and academic ethics violations.
Reminding students that they must do their own theses and assignments, Asst. Prof. Şenol warned, “If they do their own work, they will both avoid risks and carry out their personal development in a healthy way. Students should stay away from pirate homework and thesis sites in every respect.”
Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol, Deputy Head of the Computer Engineering Department at Üsküdar University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences and Chair of the Cybersecurity Master’s Program, issued significant warnings about the “digital homework and thesis sites” that have recently become popular among students.
Students doing their own assignments and theses is of vital importance
Noting the increase in platforms operating under the name of “academic consultancy” or “homework help,” Asst. Prof. Şenol emphasized that students doing their own assignments and theses is vitally important not only for academic ethics but also for their own futures.
Stating that such sites provide both homework solutions and master’s or doctoral theses, Asst. Prof. Şenol said, “Although these sites present themselves as ‘academic consultancy services,’ they actually run pirate operations. Homework and theses are given to support the student’s development and learning and to ensure they acquire the competencies required by the degree they will receive. First of all, students who download and use ready-made assignments or theses from such sites, even if their cheating is not discovered, will later experience the lack of the skills they did not acquire and will not be successful. On the other hand, the student who resorts to cheating unknowingly faces various risks.”
Pirate sites can blackmail students
Explaining that students who register on these platforms are forced to share personal data, Asst. Prof. Şenol continued, “These sites require visitors who want to use their so-called services to register. On the registration screen they request information disproportionate to the supposed paid assistance. They ask for ID number, the school or university attended, student number, Facebook and Instagram accounts, and so on. They also request the final submission date of the assignment or thesis. After the student provides this information, the pirate homework and thesis site can use social network data to identify students from wealthy families and then threaten and blackmail them by threatening to expose their cheating to the school or university in order to extort money. For blackmail and extortion, they first wait for the student to submit the assignment or thesis. After the student commits the unethical act, they begin the blackmail activity.”
Credit card information can be stolen
Asst. Prof. Şenol also warned that the assignment or thesis obtained by the student could install viruses or malware on the student’s computer. “Through malware, the usernames and passwords used on the student’s computer can fall into the hands of the operators of the pirate homework and thesis site. When the student pays for the fraudulently obtained thesis or assignment by credit card or bank transfer, and is directed to the pirate site’s payment screen, the credit card number, expiration date and security code will be recorded and shared with other criminals. Additionally, the payment record becomes evidence and leverage for the pirate homework and thesis site to blackmail the student.”
The same assignment can be sold to others!
Stating that pirate assignment sites often sell the same content to multiple students, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol said, “The assignment they obtain for a fee may not be given only to one student; it may have been provided earlier or at the same time to other students. This can also occur with master’s and doctoral theses. Instructors or teachers can easily find assignments or theses with identical or similar content using similarity-check programs such as Turnitin or iThenticate. In that case, the student may face penalties such as suspension from the school for one year or dismissal from their program. If the issue surfaces after the student’s graduation, the degree they obtained could even be revoked.”
Word or PDF files may contain hidden malicious software
Emphasizing that files downloaded from pirate assignment or thesis sites are also technically dangerous, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol warned, “Word documents may contain macros, which are bits of code that run automatically when the document is opened. If macro execution is enabled, a malicious macro inside the Word document can run and create a vulnerability on the computer. PDF files may be crafted to exploit a vulnerability in the PDF reader, embedding content that executes code when the PDF is displayed. When the PDF is opened on the victim’s computer, an exploitable vulnerability can be deployed. This vulnerability can manifest as backdoor software that allows the pirate to remotely access the computer, or as software that captures usernames and passwords entered via the keyboard and sends them to the pirate’s account.”
He also noted that source code downloaded for programming assignments carries risk: “If a student compiles and runs a program in C or Python, malicious code embedded within it can infect their computer,” Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol cautioned.
Do it yourself, stay safe!
Reminding students that they must do their own theses and assignments, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Şenol concluded, “If they do their own work, they will avoid risks, continue their personal development in a healthy way, and preserve their self-respect. Students should question whether the information these sites request, such as school or university numbers and social media accounts, is actually relevant to the service being offered, and stay away from such sites from the outset. Some pirate assignment sites may even ask for the student number and password used to access the university or school student system. That is a direct sign of malicious intent. Students should avoid pirate homework and thesis sites in every respect.”