A dissatisfied computer engineer has taken control of the city's computer network which holds most of the government data. He is refusing to give the password even after being arrested.
Terry Childs, a 43-year-old computer network administrator who has been working for the San Francisco Department of Technology for the last five years is accused of locking the city's multi million dollar computer network. Authorities said that Childs created a password that gave him access to the city's new FiberWAN (Wide area network) while denying access to others. It stores approximately sixty percent of the government records such as officials' e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail inmates' bookings etc. He was arrested on Sunday, but hasn't disclosed the password to the police till date.
His colleagues say Childs had been disciplined for poor performance and his superiors wanted him fired.He was unhappy over his salary which amounted to just over $ 126,000 per year.
Authorities fear that although Childs sits in the jail, he might have enabled a third party to access the systems through which thousands of sensitive documents can be destroyed.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin
Newsom said
Childs was a rogue employee that got a bit maniacal and full of himself. He was very good at what he did, and sometimes that goes to people's heads. We think that is what this is about.
Experts say that the situation could have been avoided if managers had a high-security approach in place to master important network passwords.
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Disgruntled IT admin locks up San Francisco's computer network
