Feds: TSA Worker Tried to Sabotage Terror Database
A former Transportation Security Administration contractor is being charged in Colorado for allegedly injecting malicious code into a government network used for screening airport security workers and others.
Douglas James Duchak, 46, worked as a data analyst at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center, or CSOC, since 2004. On Oct. 15, he was given two weeks’ notice that his job would be terminated.
The CSOC network stores updated information from the government’s terrorist watchlist as well as criminal histories from the U.S. Marshal’s Service Warrant Information Network. Duchak’s job was to update the CSOC database as new information arrived from these two sources. The CSOC is used to vet people who have “access to sensitive information and secure areas of the nation’s transportation network.”
The malicious code was a "logic bomb" designed to cause damage and disrupt data on servers on an undisclosed date but was caught by other workers before it delivered its payload.
On Oct. 22, Duchak allegedly transmitted the malicious code onto a CSOC server that stored data from the U.S. Marshal’s Service, according to the indictment. The next day, he allegedly loaded malicious code to a server containing the Terrorist Screening Database. The source involved in the case said the servers “are part of the system that contains the no-fly list” and added that the code, if it had gone undetected, could have traveled to a facility in another state that uses a similar computer system.
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I understand he did this after learning he would be fired from his job. Having a wife and two kids (one a newborn) and a depressed economy - he went 'TSA' (like 'postal' only with computers).
ReplyDeleteWonder how much more of this kind of crime we will be seeing, as any IT employee could do the same thing?
This was Treason, right? Capital tee. The only way to discourage this sort of thing is zero tolerance.
ReplyDeleteJudge Roy Bean's justice:
"give 'em a fair trial ... then hang 'em"
chas
Even though Treason is the only crime worse than Murder itself, it is also very difficult to prove. There have only been a handful of successful convictions on treason charges in 235+ years, therefore prosecutors are hesitant to throw the big "T" out there. I think to prove Treason they'd have to establish some kind of link against the government of the United States. Far easier to slam this guy with the criminal charges already associated with mishandling the information with which he was entrusted.
ReplyDeleteOf course if it was up to me, I say, "You like terrorists? You wanna be with terrorists? Okay then HERE YOU GO . . ." and then take him out to the middle of some shithole Taliban ville and cut him loose with a sign around his neck that says "Mohammed eats pork," or something.
Any crime that damages the country and aids enemies is TREASON.
ReplyDeleteThe only sutable penalty for TREASON is hanging.
We have to stop conferring our mores on people whow want to damage our country as a whole.
Lose the sophistry, indict!!
This guy was told that he would lose his job in two weeks? A computer programmer? What the Hell kind of incompetent management is that? When you have to terminate an IT professional you do it just before closing time on his last day, have a secretary clean out his desk for him, and march him out the door with an escort so he cannot get access to any IT equipment to damage the organization in retaliation. Plus his access from outside is canceled at the same time, or sooner. It is not sensible to give someone with IT skills and with, potentially, a grudge, the time and opportunity to do damage like this.
ReplyDeleteIf you have to give two weeks notice do all that I mentioned above on the last day before the two weeks, then send him home for two weeks with pay, but don't let him have access to do any damage. The damage he could do is liable to be more expensive to repair than the pay for two idle weeks. Crikey, I thought everybody knew that.
Michael Lonie
This is the TSA we're talking about here . . . remember what the Democrats said, back in '02, when they pressured President Bush into making the TSA a government operation, versus using privately contracted security? The sound bite was: "Government means Professional!"
ReplyDeleteYeah, right. The TSA is about the most incompetent agency of the entire broken Federal government.
Stormbringer: Treason ranks right up at the top of bad things to do. Lying is right there with murder -- especially when done under oath. Unfortunately in the good ol' USofA the latter is done on a regular basis by government officials, military men and businessmen yet it is not punished.
ReplyDeleteDave
Can I have custody of him?
ReplyDeleteI'm cheap, and fast.
what ever happen to the oak tree in the court house lawn. the good ole days of frontier justice. pay me what the cost of keeping him in prison for life and i will take care of him. cash or check can accept CC ; skullhead
ReplyDeleteHe was not a TSA employee. He was a private contractor screening the government employees.
ReplyDelete