Hacker Claims VCE Exam Papers Sold to Hundreds of Students; VCAA Says Claims Are Fabricated

On Wednesday evening, in the middle of Victoria's year 12 exam period, a message appeared in the banner on the homepage of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. It was signed by someone using the alias "DaggerElite", and it was laced with expletives. The author claimed to have sold 2026 exam papers to "hundreds of students" across the state.

The message went further. It alleged the authority had poor security standards, which the author said allowed them to map out the website, learn about its internals and download copies of this year's exam papers from internal file servers. The hacker also claimed the papers had been sent to students from an email address belonging to a law firm, Go Ahead Lawyers, whose email security they said they had also breached. No evidence was offered for any of this.

The VCAA rejected the claims outright. A spokesperson called them "fabricated" and said there was "no evidence at all" that any VCE exam had been accessed or leaked. They described the claims as false and designed for financial gain from exploiting anxious students, and said the authority does not discuss the specific security measures protecting exams.

Go Ahead Lawyers also denied involvement. A spokesperson said the firm did not access or distribute any exam papers, and that its review so far had found no sign of unauthorised access to its email systems. The firm suspects a third party spoofed its email address to make messages look as though they came from it, and said it neither sent nor authorised them. The incident has been reported to Victoria Police.

By Thursday morning the VCAA website displayed a notice saying it was undergoing maintenance, with an apology for the inconvenience. Chief executive Andrew Smith told ABC Radio Melbourne the authority was working to restore the site as a matter of urgency. He said the likelihood of exam papers being downloaded from secure printers was "very, very low". Once the investigation is finished, he said, the authority will examine the root cause and make any changes needed to strengthen security around its corporate website.

A Victorian government spokesperson said year 12 exams were stressful enough without someone trying to vandalise the system. They repeated the VCAA's advice that no exams had been accessed or leaked, said the site was immediately pulled from public access and an investigation begun, and confirmed the VCE exams will continue as normal.

Students reacted with anger on social media. One wrote that hacking a government authority showed the stress and pressure placed on them, adding that people were developing psychological disorders over the VCAA. Another joked, asking who had the physics paper.

The episode lands on an authority already carrying a troubled record. In 2024 the state government ordered a review of the exam period after the VCAA accidentally published 56 of 116 test papers before they were sat, English among them, because of a "publishing error". The questions, identical or very similar to those in the final exams, sat as hidden text in seemingly blank sections of sample cover pages, which stayed online for weeks. Then chief executive Kylie White resigned, and the board was sacked in 2025. Errors were also found in the 2023 and 2022 maths exams, prompting a review of how papers are vetted and proofed.

The VCE exam period began on 5 October and runs until 18 November. Twenty-four exams remain over the final days, including physics, geography and politics. What to watch now is whether the police and the VCAA's investigation can establish if anything was actually taken, and how quickly the website returns.