A former student has been charged over a series of cyber attacks on a Sydney university that affected hundreds of staff and students.

Since 2021, Western Sydney University had suffered a series of cyber hacks involving unauthorised access, data exfiltration, system compromise and misuse of university infrastructure – including threatening the sale of student information on the dark web.

After extensive inquiries, police identified the alleged hacker as a former student of the university.

At about 8.20am yesterday, police carried out a search warrant in Kingswood.

Officers found computer equipment and mobile devices.

They arrested a 27-year-old woman and charged her with 20 offences including hacking-, fraud-, and blackmail-related charges.

She was refused bail and will appear in court today.

Police will allege in court that the woman initially exploited the Western Sydney University systems to secure unauthorised discounted parking on campus.

As the alleged offending escalated, the woman is accused of altering her academic results and eventually threatening to sell confidential student data on the dark web.

The investigation continues.

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