City's Computer Network Hijacked

A computer engineer has been accused of hijacking a city's computer system.

Terry Childs is accused of tampering with San Francisco's new computer network to give himself exclusive access, and is allegedly refusing to hand over the passwords which would allow officials into the system.

Mr Childs worked as a network administrator for five years for the San Francisco city government.

The network on which he worked stores 60% of city data, including employee e-mail, payroll files and law enforcement records. Documents in the system can currently be accessed, but if there is a problem with the network there is no way to repair it quickly.

Experts from Cisco have been brought in to try and rectify the problem, but without the passwords it could take weeks and cost millions of dollars.
It is not yet clear what Mr Childs' motive might have been for his alleged actions.
San Francisco's mayor Gary Newsom described him as "rogue employee that got a bit maniacal".

While it can be hard for companies to stop the actions of a rogue employee, one computer security expert said that systems are in place to try and anticipate when problems are likely to arise.

The Huntsmann system from Tier-3 monitors behaviour on computer systems and alerts security administrators when non-typical behaviour - such as changing passwords - takes place.

Chief technology officer Geoff Sweeney told Sky News Online: "This is an extreme case but they do occur.

"The worst possible scenario is an administrator who goes bad.

"At some point you need to establish a monitoring process that will identify behaviour that is suspicious."

Mr Childs has pleaded not guilty to four charges of computer tampering, and his lawyer said there is no danger to the city's computer networks as a result of his alleged actions.

* - Article taken from Sky News