Fergie's Tech Blog

Feds: TSA Worker Tried to Sabotage Terror Database

Kim Zetter writes on Threat Level:

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.

The malicious code, a logic bomb installed last October, was designed to cause damage and “disrupt” data on servers on an undisclosed date but was caught by other workers before it delivered its payload.

Douglas James Duchak, 46, had worked as a data analyst at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center (CSOC) since 2004. The CSOC is used to vet people who have “access to sensitive information and secure areas of the nation’s transportation network,” according to the indictment. A source involved in the case said this involved screening of both passengers and workers at airports and other transportation facilities.

He pleaded not guilty in a Denver federal court on Wednesday and was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond. The indictment did not say whether the malware was crafted to erase or alter data, or simply disable servers.

posted by Fergie @ 3/11/2010 11:35:00 AM