Cyber Security Expert Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol issued important warnings against "digital assignment and thesis websites," which have recently become popular among students, stating that pirate assignment websites expose students to blackmail, data theft, and academic ethical violations.
Firstly reminding students that they should do their theses and assignments themselves, Dr. Şenol warned, "If they do them themselves, they will both stay away from risks and ensure their personal development progresses healthily. Students should stay away from pirate assignment-thesis websites in every aspect."
Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (MDBF) Computer Engineering Department Vice Head and Head of Cyber Security Master's Program Department, Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol, issued important warnings against "digital assignment and thesis websites," which have recently become popular among students.
It is vitally important for students to personally do their own assignments and theses
Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol, pointing out the increasing number of platforms offering services under the name of "academic consultancy" or "assignment help" today, emphasized that it is vitally important for students to personally do their own assignments and theses, not only for academic ethics but also for their own futures.
Stating that both assignment solutions and master's or doctoral theses can be obtained from such websites, Dr. Şenol said, "Although these types of websites present themselves as 'academic consultancy services,' they are actually engaging in pirate activities. Both assignments and theses are given to help students develop, to learn, and to acquire the necessary qualifications for the title they will receive. Firstly, students who download and use ready-made assignments and theses from such websites, even if their cheating is not discovered (which is a low probability), will inevitably experience the lack of that unearned skill in the future and will not be successful because they passed or graduated without acquiring the necessary qualifications for the title they obtained. On the other hand, students who resort to cheating unknowingly expose themselves to various risks."
Pirate websites can threaten students with blackmail
Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol, stating that students registering on these platforms are forced to share their personal data, continued:
"These types of websites ask students who visit them and wish to benefit from their so-called services to register. On the registration screen, they ask for an amount of information disproportionate to the so-called help they would normally provide for money. Such as their TR ID number, the school or university they attend, student number, Facebook, Instagram accounts… They also ask for the assignment or thesis deadline. After the student provides this information, the pirate assignment-thesis website can use the student's social network information to threaten students, especially children from wealthy families, with blackmail and by exposing their cheating to the school and university, demanding money. For threats and blackmail, they first wait for the student to submit their assignment and thesis. Following the student's unethical act, they proceed with blackmail activities."
Credit card information can be compromised
Dr. Şenol also noted that the assignment and thesis obtained by the student could infect their computer with a virus or malicious software, stating, "Through malicious software, the user codes and passwords used by the student on their computer can fall into the hands of those operating the pirate assignment-thesis website. When making a payment for a fraudulently obtained thesis or assignment, the student will pay by credit card or bank transfer. When redirected to the pirate assignment-thesis website's payment screen during payment, they will record credit card information, expiration date, and code information, and share this information with other individuals engaged in pirate activities. Furthermore, their payment record will constitute evidence and a basis for the pirate assignment-thesis website to blackmail them."
The same assignment can be sold to others!
Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol, stating that pirate assignment websites often sell the same content to multiple students, said, "The assignment obtained for money might have been given not only to them but also to other students previously or simultaneously. This situation can also be encountered with master's and doctoral theses. Faculty members or teachers can easily find assignments and theses with the same or similar content using similarity check programs like Turnitin and iThenticate. In such a case, the student may face situations such as being suspended from school for a year or having their enrollment in the program terminated. If the situation comes to light after the student's graduation, the title they obtained could also be revoked."
Malicious software might be hidden in Word or PDF files
Emphasizing that files downloaded from pirate assignment or thesis websites are also technically dangerous, Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol said, "Word documents may contain certain codes called macros that run automatically when the document is loaded. If macro execution is active, a macro containing malicious code within the Word document can run and create a vulnerability on the computer. In PDF documents, a vulnerability in the PDF reader can be exploited, and specially prepared content can be embedded into the PDF document to abuse the code running while the PDF document is displayed on the screen. When a PDF document is opened on the victim's computer, an exploitable vulnerability can be loaded onto their computer. This vulnerability can sometimes manifest as a backdoor software that allows the pirate to remotely connect to the computer, or sometimes as software that sends user codes and passwords entered via the keyboard to the pirate's account."
Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol also warned that source codes downloaded for programming assignments carry risks, stating, "When a student compiles and runs a program like C or Python, malicious software embedded within it can infect their computer."
Do it yourself, stay safe!
Firstly reminding students that they should do their theses and assignments themselves, Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmet Şenol said, "If they do them themselves, they will both stay away from risks and ensure their personal development progresses healthily, and they will maintain their self-respect. They should question the relevance of information such as school, university number, and social media accounts requested by such websites to the so-called service provided, and should stay away from such websites from the very beginning. Some pirate assignment websites may request the student number and password that a student uses to log into the university or school student system. This situation is also a direct sign of the website's malicious intent. Students should stay away from pirate assignment-thesis websites in every aspect." He concluded.