TAG | San Francisco network lockdown: IDs and passwords revealed in court |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Tuesday, 29 July 2008 | |
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It seems he was then threatened with suspension or dismissal for what he saw as doing his job in protecting the system, and responded by locking down the network. The list of usernames and passwords was produced as evidence by the district attorney's office, and it became part of the public record of the case for a period before being removed from open scrutiny. According to those who have seen the list, some of the passwords are easy to guess - in some cases to the extent of being the same as the username they go with. If that is true, maybe Childs was doing his job (even if the execution was overzealous) and perhaps his managers should have taken his warnings more seriously. Were Childs' actions equivalent to those of a whistleblower, or should be be seen merely as a technical functionary who overstepped his authority? The case raises serious questions about the balance between IT workers' professional duty and their responsibility to their employers or the owners of the systems which they use, manage or maintain. Childs remains in jail, with bail set at $US5 million, until the next hearing scheduled for September 24. He faces five charges involving tampering with computer networks and criminal damage. Maybe when the trial proper gets underway we will get a clearer picture of the circumstances in which Childs acted.
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