Jul 15, 2008 7:41 pm US/Pacific
SF City Worker Charged With Computer Tampering
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
A San Francisco city worker charged with illegally tampering with the city's computer network appeared briefly in San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday, postponing his arraignment on the charges because his newly appointed attorney said he is still reviewing the case.
Terry Childs, a 43-year-old network administrator for San Francisco's Department of Telecommunications and Information Services, is accused of altering the city's FiberWAN network system, denying service to authorized users and setting up devices that would allow unauthorized access to the system.
The actions potentially exposed the information of both city workers and anyone who does business with the city.
San Francisco prosecutors have charged Childs, who was arrested at his Pittsburg home over the weekend, with four felony counts of computer network tampering, as well as one count of causing losses of more than $200,000, resulting from the tampering.
Childs, a burly, mustachioed man with graying blond hair, appeared in court Tuesday morning wearing an orange jail uniform.
His attorney with the San Francisco Public Defender's office, Mark Jacobs, asked to postpone the arraignment two days while he reviews evidence in the case, which he said he only received Tuesday morning.
Childs remained in custody on $5 million bail. Jacobs described the high bail amount as crazy and suggested the charges resulted from a misunderstanding.
"I don't think he's a threat," Jacobs said. "He didn't kill anybody, and murderers usually get a $1 million bail, so you do the math."
The city says fixing the system and determining whether the tampering led to a security breach could cost millions of dollars. Officials say the exact damage is still being assessed.
Prosecutors have not given a motive for the alleged cyber-jacking, but police investigators say Childs recently had been disciplined at work.
"Well obviously, it's an odd case," Jacobs said outside the courtroom.
Surrounded by television cameras and noting that he had little information about the case, other than from media reports, Jacobs told reporters, "I don't think it's going to be as big of a circus as you may have been led to believe."
"I think it's more of a misunderstanding," he said.
District Attorney Kamala Harris said Monday that the network contains information relating to the city's 311 customer service center system, the city e-mail system and the city server, including "potentially" confidential private information.
Childs is believed to have altered the system between June 20 and July 10, according to Harris.
If convicted, Childs could face up to seven years in state prison, Harris said.
Childs returns to court Thursday at 9 a.m.
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