http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/1576858 By STEVE BREWER Houston Chronicle Sept. 16, 2002 Harris County Attorney Mike Stafford has suspended his investigation into a security gap discovered earlier this year in a county-run wireless computer network. Stafford said his office will not issue a final report because the computer security analyst who pointed out the problem has since been indicted by a federal grand jury. Besides, Stafford added, his office found nothing that merits a report and he doesn't expect to reopen the probe. District Clerk Charles Bacarisse asked Stafford and District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal last March to investigate after Steve Jennings, head of the county's Central Technology Department, told him a wireless system run by Bacarisse's office was vulnerable to hackers. The problem had been brought to Jennings' attention by the Chronicle and computer security analyst Stefan Puffer, who demonstrated to Jennings how the system could be accessed with a laptop and phone card -- a practice known as "wardriving." At the time, Bacarisse downplayed the incident and said the system was only being tested. But he immediately shut it down and criticized Jennings for waiting until a day after the March 18 demonstration to inform him. Jennings said other county systems were vulnerable and he wanted to secure them first. Rosenthal's investigation resulted in no charges. But Puffer, who once worked for Bacarisse's office, was indicted in July for allegedly hacking into the system before the March 18 demonstration, causing officials to spend $5,000 to clean up after the breach. Puffer's lawyer has denied his client caused any damage or had any criminal intent. Bacarisse and Jennings declined comment on Stafford's decision. - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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