Don’t mess with IT
July 21, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: IT staffing, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security and law
A San Francisco tech employee has been arrested for blocking access to critical computer networks and refusing to reveal the password.
Network Administrator Terry Childs has locked up the multi-million dollar network that runs the city’s official e-mail, payroll files, court schedules and police documents.
He was taken into custody after giving several phony passwords to police. So far, he’s refused to give out the real access code.
It’s estimated he could end up causing a few million dollars worth of damage. Why’d he do it?
He hasn’t explained his motive yet, but the city had recently disciplined him for poor performance.
His reaction may have been a little hasty, considering his bail’s been set to $5 million, and if convicted of the charges against him, he could sit in jail for up to seven years.
Tags: discipline, IT staff, keeping employees happy, tampering
July 18th, 2008 at 9:01 am
ALWAYS have a back access! What a pain - I would, however, much rather read this, than a story about a disgruntled employee that picked up a firearm instead of a keyboard…
July 18th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Apparently his performance issues weren’t related to a lack of skill - since he was able to pull off locking up the whole network in such a way that no one else can get in.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Maybe they should look at the way his “poor” performance was addressed during his review. Obviously he was set off by something that was brought up. I would think that the supervisor should be questioned. Sounds like the man took this as an insult.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
[...] illegal or unethical. But as recent news stories have shown — like the one about the techie in San Francisco who blocked access to the city’s network and refused to hand over the password — there [...]