In January I blogged on Terry Childs the CCIE who locked out his employer from the network -> http://cciesplab.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/ot-ccie-gone-wrong/
Well the verdict is in…
Terry Childs, 45, of Pittsburg … a former San Francisco network engineer … was found guilty of a felony charge of denying computer access … Tuesday … making him eligible for a maximum state prison sentence of five years. … Prosecutors argued that Childs had decided to wall off his supervisors from the city network. … Mayor Gavin Newsom … testified that the city had been “in peril” because officials were blocked from access to police records, payroll data and other information.
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Childs’ attorney, Richard Shikman … acknowledged that Childs may have been “paranoid” about protecting the system and undiplomatic with his bosses, but nothing worse. … [He] said the city computer network had never been at risk. … “I’m disappointed at the verdict – he’s very decent man.”
David Kravets adds:
Childs was arrested in July 2008 after refusing to hand over passwords to the … FiberWAN network. … A San Francisco jury deliberated a week before reaching a verdict. … The FiberWAN network system … connects hundreds of different … city-and-county government … departments and buildings to a central data center, and to each other.
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Childs’ $5 million bail was set five times higher than most murder defendants’ because the authorities feared that, if released, he might permanently lock the system and erase records.
Jason Chilton was a juror on the case. In a fascinating series of comments, he explains what went on:
Management in the city’s IT organization … did everything wrong that they possibly could have to create this situation. … One different decision by [Childs], or more effective management by the city could have completely avoided this.
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This jury was not made up of incompetent people. … I myself am a network engineer with a CCIE and thirteen years experience. … No matter what you think … you do not have … even 10% of … the full story. I am confident that we reached the correct verdict.
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One of the most difficult questions for us to answer … [was] who is an “authorized user”? … We did ultimately determine … beyond any reasonable doubt … his boss’ boss was an authorized user.
Ref: http://blogs.computerworld.com/16011/terry_childs_found_guilty_of_san_francisco_fiberwan_lockout
