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Alleged network hijacker has criminal past
LATEST ON THIS STORYRelated Topics: SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The San Francisco computer engineer accused of hijacking The City’s network, whose request for a bail reduction was denied by a judge Wednesday, had been arrested in 1995 on aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon.
Superior Court Judge Lucy Kelly McCabe refused to lower the $5 million bail for Terry Childs after prosecutor Conrad del Rosario accused the 43-year-old of “maliciousness,” and charged that he rigged the computer system to “completely devastate the entire network.”
Childs’s attorney, Erin Crane, called the charge “spurious,” pointing out that “everything is running fine.”
Childs, of Pittsburg, is accused of locking down The City’s central network — called the FiberWAN network — that he helped create by refusing for more than one week to release the passwords for other systems administrators to gain access to the network. Authorities have said the network contains payroll documents, sensitive law enforcement records, officials’ e-mail and other data. Childs recently surrendered the codes in a jailhouse meeting with Mayor Gavin Newsom.
The City has spent in excess of $100,000 on consultants from Cisco and has had about two dozen of its own network experts working overtime to resolve the issue, Department of Technology Chief Ron Vinson said.
Childs’ criminal history stretches back to when he was a teenager and spent four years in a Kansas State Jail for aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery with use of a knife. He also was arrested in 1995 on charges of aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon — charges that were later reduced to a misdemeanor count of criminal possession of a firearm.
Del Rosario also stated that a search of Childs’ home July 12 revealed 9-mm and .45-caliber bullets — in violation of laws prohibiting felons from possessing ammunition.
Crane argued that the $5 million bail was excessive, but the prosecutor’s response filed late Tuesday argued that his previous record indicates he may be a danger to the public.
He accused Childs of having rigged the system to completely fail during a routine power outage that Childs was allegedly aware was scheduled for July 19. Though The City managed to avoid that failure, del Rosario said some city agencies, including the Sheriff’s Office and the Recreation and Park Department, were still locked out of the system.
Crane defended Childs, saying he had reformed since his earlier convictions. She pointed to the fact that the system has continued to run perfectly, even after he was incarcerated, as proof that he meant no malevolence. In fact, she said, Childs was so “competent and ethical” that he made his co-workers “look bad,” so they hired private investigators in an attempt to “dig up dirt on him.”
At the end of the brief hearing, Superior Court Judge Lucy Kelly McCabe denied the bail reduction.
Comments from Examiner Readers
7:28 AM MST on Fri., Aug. 8, 2008 re: "Alleged hacker can’t be fired yet"
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7:25 PM MST on Sun., Aug. 3, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
I'm having a real problem with this case. For one, if you read the court docs you will see Terry tried to implement a "security policy" multiple times 3 years ago but the department would not accept them. Then one of his coworkers, who I get the impression was someone Terry felt was incompetent, gets promoted to "Head of Security" and he catches her snooping around his coworkers offices after work hours. He also had filed a complaint against his supervisors a month ago for "creating a hostile work environment" Now these same people want the keys to the network that Terry was responsible for? I think he had a duty to the taxpayers to contest this. Maybe he didn't go about some of this the right way, but it is hardly a jailable offense. I think management locked themselves out of the network. What other admins are they talking about? Terry was the ONLY one they had configuring the systems. He got a copyright on the design for god's sake! I wouldn't be surprised if he sued the city.
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Examiner Reader said:
When will the city be complying with the California Security Breach Notification law (CIVIL CODE SECTION 1798.25-1798.29) to notify cititzens that unauthorized users such as Terry Childs and potentially "anyone" (as written by assisstant district attorney Conrad B. del Rosario, Jr. in the motion to oppose bail reduction) have accessed confidential data about private citizens traversing the FiberWAN network?
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Examiner Reader said:
This guy went about this all wrong, but that doesnt mean he didnt have good intentions. He was right to worry about the system he helped build. Look...just a few days after he gave in some idiot lawyers posted the passwords on public documents.
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Examiner Reader said:
IT Manager Rule #1: Never give your subordinates, no matter how much you like them, full admin access to the system without some sort of backup or failsafe, or shadowing system in place. The idea that a SysAdmin could go in and completely lock out the system, and an army of techs and managers unable to crack. It hink it's obviuuos his claim is true, that the system was corrupted and something else was going on. As an existing SysAdmin, I know if I was making his salary, and had a home, and was single. There is NO way I would blow it all away to make a point, unless it was something serious. Theres more than just a 'Hacker' here. The best example of the monkey's in the machines was the recent DA disclosure of passwords accidentily. I truly feel that Child's was a victim of his illusion as a superhero. One thing I have learned in SF, oonly those who have no idea what they are doing, are the ones on TV and in charge. The rest of us just cover their asses. Good luck Childs.
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Examiner Reader said:
""SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Despite Terry Childs’ alleged hijacking of The City’s central network, which has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to resolve, it could take more than a year to fire him. Perhaps he will resign, he seems like a reasonable and intelligent chap. Then he can get a job in the private sector or maybe working for the CIA or FBI as a consultant?
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Examiner Reader said:
the city is corrupt, that is why Childs would give the password to only the mayor. I am sure that when he was hired, that his record came up in the background check, and with all the crooks already employed by the city, they figured he was "one of them", so was hired, making $144,000/year as a system administrator! You cannot make anywhere near this for any company. I am surprised that they are even prosecuting him. The city is known for solving very few murders, being a sanctuary city, so gangs are not prosecuted. The only recent murder that they claim to have solved was committed by a "dead guy", who just happened to have died in a motorcycle crash.
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Examiner Reader said:
some guys never grow up. they think they can be bad boys into old age. bad mom. bad dad. probably. now he's bad. but he did go on to engi-nearing. city hall is full of those on the edge, this is just the tip of the ice berg. let's kiss up and go after his job. pucker up. let's send in our naked photos of ourselves to qualify. some did when basic brown was in charge.
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Examiner Reader said:
I think he should be fired AND prosecuted. That is ridiculous! Since when is a city's business a playground?
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Examiner Reader said:
what's the motive??
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Examiner Reader said:
He should receive an appropriate punishment for his actions and his attitude.
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