San Francisco officials are trying to find a device on the city's computer network that was allegedly left there by an IT worker who was jailed for refusing to divulge passwords to the city network, the IDG News Service reported on Thursday.
San Francisco network administrator Terry Childs was arrested in July on four felony charges of taking control of the city's computer network and locking administrators out. He remains in jail on $5 million bail despite giving up the passwords to the mayor in a secret jail cell meeting a week later.
The device, which appears to be a router providing remote access to the city's fiber Wide Area Network, was discovered on August 28, the report says.
However, officials didn't know where the device was located and didn't have the user name and password to access it. When they tried to log in, a message was displayed that said the system was the "personal property of Terry S. Childs," according to a screenshot officials filed with the court.
Updated at 5:45 p.m. PT to correct that network is wide area (as in WAN), not wireless.
Bail for a San Francisco city employee accused of hijacking the city's network remained at $5 million on Friday after prosecutors accused the worker of rigging the network to sabotage it the next time it was shut down for maintenance or due to a power failure, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Terry Childs, 43, was arrested July 13 on charges of tampering with the city's computer network. He remained in jail after the hearing on Wednesday.
In a secret meeting with Mayor Gavin Newsom on Monday, Childs revealed the passwords to the system so officials could take back control of it.
However, the Sheriff's Department and Park and Recreation Department remained locked out, although the network was in operation, the newspaper reported.
"He had a malicious intent to destroy the entire network," Prosecutor Conrad del Rosario is quoted as saying.
Childs' lawyer, Erin Crane, says her client has done nothing illegal and is being made a scapegoat by city officials who wanted to get rid of him for no legitimate reason.
- prev
- 1
- next
