[ISN] Man charged with crashing employer's computer site

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Mon Feb 17 2003 - 01:17:11 PST

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    http://www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=108456
    
    15 Feb 2003
    
    PROVO, Utah (AP) - A Pleasant Grove man has been charged with bringing
    down his former employer's entire computer system in what a prosecutor
    called a ''crime of the future.''
    
    Jonathan Shaw, 33, was charged with computer crime, a second-degree
    felony, on Thursday in 4th District Court. Shaw also was charged with
    disorderly conduct, an infraction. Conviction carries a prison term of
    up to 15 years and up to $10,000 in fines.
    
    ''This is kind of a new area for us,'' Taylor said Thursday after
    filing charges. ''I think we're going to see more and more of this.''
    
    Shaw, who was Internet systems administrator for Creative Internet
    Concepts in American Fork, is accused of breaking into the company
    server from a remote location on his laptop computer and setting up
    ''Trojan horse'' viruses to wipe out the system, according to police
    records.
    
    He also allegedly changed all the passwords on the system so that no
    one could get into the system once he had implanted the viruses.
    
    The total systems crash lasted six days, said Alma Tuck, Creative
    Internet Concepts president, and affected at least 500 independent
    businesses that are hosted on the company's computer system.
    
    As of Friday, the system, which provides server space for company Web
    sites and home-based businesses, was at 95 percent.
    
    The total monetary damage in loss of revenue and equipment because of
    Shaw's alleged assault on the system is estimated at $230,000 to
    $270,000.
    
    ''We're in complete rebuild mode,'' Tuck said. ''We couldn't use the
    existing server and ... had to buy all brand-new equipment.''
    
    The information on the server was backed up, and many of the company's
    clients, including many home-based businesses, have stayed with them
    through the crisis, Tuck said.
    
    Shaw was fired Jan. 28 for allowing outside people to log on to the
    company server and watch movies and TV shows without authorization,
    Tuck said. Shaw also had repeatedly threatened the company if he
    wasn't paid more, Tuck said.
    
    According to police records, Shaw showed up at work to pick up his
    final check Feb. 3 only to find the wire transfer had not gone through
    and there were no funds available. While at work he started punching
    walls and threatening his employers that ''he would take their company
    down,'' according to reports.
    
    The next morning, around 5 a.m., the entire system crashed.
    
    Shaw is currently free on bail pending a waiver hearing March 6 at 10
    a.m. before Judge Fred Howard.
    
    
    
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