Fergie's Tech Blog

Australia: 'Million Dollar Network Sabotage'

Alyssa Betts writes on News.com.au:

An alleged hacker's attack on the Territory Government's computer network cost millions of dollars, a court heard yesterday.

Authorities said they still had no motive for the alleged sabotage, which brought down Northern Territory Supreme Court, Parliament House, Darwin prison and Royal Darwin Hospital servers, rendering them "unusable".

David Anthony McIntosh, 28, of Palmerston, did not make any money from his cyber hit, crown prosecutor David Brustman said.

"It was simply an act of spite and vengeance, which came about from his disaffection, either with his employment or, indeed, the world at large," he said.

Mr Brustman said the attack also wiped 10,475 public servants from existence - and crisis teams were flown from interstate to fix the mess.

He said the damage and costs of the hacking effort were as yet unknown, but it was estimated to have run into "the millions of dollars".

Mr McIntosh - former server engineer with CSG Services, which operates NT Government computer systems - is accused of using a fellow workmate's computer and accessing her internal log-on details to carry out his attack.

He is alleged to have breached the system three times on May 8, a month after he quit CSG - the last time simply returning to survey his handiwork like a "firebug", Mr Brustman said.

posted by Fergie @ 10/08/2008 03:47:00 PM