Year of prison for a logical bomb on American submarines
Tim McGlone, The Virginian-Pilot, April 5th. A programmer with the highest category admission, who worked under a contract for the US government, was sentenced to a year in prison for sabotage on computers of the 6th US Fleet.
Richard F. Sylvester from Boilston, Massachusetts, was accused of intentionally damaging government computers, which could lead to 10 years in prison.
Judge Rebecca Smith sentenced Sylvester to the minimum possible punishment, given his lack of a criminal past and other extenuating circumstances.
“If we cannot trust even people with the highest category of admission, where did we find ourselves then?” The judge concluded her speech.
“This is a serious crime,” she said. "Possible harm to submarine crews ... they were in great danger."
The former owner of Ares Systems International, Sylvester, under the contract, was accompanying the computers of the 6th US Navy, based in Naples, Italy.
He confessed that in May 2006, while in Naples, he programmed and introduced a logic bomb into computers that track the movement of submarines. Sylvester told the fleet investigators that he was angry that the contract for the project that he expected to receive was transferred to another company. After entering these codes into computers, Sylvester fled from Italy.
Three of the five computers on which he carried out his sabotage turned off. If his plan had worked on all five computers, the entire computer network that tracks the movement of submarines would be out of order.
“The fleet would be blind,” Assistant Prosecutor Robert Krask told the judge.
In the worst case scenario, a submarine collision could occur. However, this threat was minimized as a result of the two-day work of professionals involved in troubleshooting.
Rear Admirad Jeffrey L. Fowler, deputy commander of the 6th Fleet, told the court that computers are used to track the movement of submarines "because of the limited ability of the submarines themselves to detect submarine objects that pose a danger to navigation, including other submarines."
Computer sabotage prevented submarines from "preventing collisions and could lead to death", the admiral wrote in a two-page letter to court.
Fowler reported that troubleshooting required 540 man-hours. I had to check all 65 computers in the fleet center in Naples. The sabotage forced the Fleet to take additional security measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
In his request to release his client from imprisonment, lawyer Silvestra presented testimonies from family members and friends, who argued that these actions were completely inconsistent with his character. A certificate from a psychiatrist that Sylvester is prone to depression and manic-depressive psychosis was also presented.
Sister Sylvester Nancy Rapaport admitted that her brother had made a “terrible, monstrous mistake”, but asked the judge for leniency, given her brother’s lack of a criminal past and his devotion to working as a volunteer.
She stated that if she had been asked before the events, that her brother’s crime or alien landing would be more likely, she would have chosen aliens.
“I’m shocked that I’m here,” she said in court.
Judge Smith also fined Sylvester 10 thousand dollars and assigned him a three-year probationary period after his release. In addition, Sylvester must pay the Fleet for the damage caused by its actions 25 thousand dollars. While Sylvester remains at large. The judge ordered him to appear in federal prison to serve his sentence by June 1.
Richard F. Sylvester from Boilston, Massachusetts, was accused of intentionally damaging government computers, which could lead to 10 years in prison.
Judge Rebecca Smith sentenced Sylvester to the minimum possible punishment, given his lack of a criminal past and other extenuating circumstances.
“If we cannot trust even people with the highest category of admission, where did we find ourselves then?” The judge concluded her speech.
“This is a serious crime,” she said. "Possible harm to submarine crews ... they were in great danger."
The former owner of Ares Systems International, Sylvester, under the contract, was accompanying the computers of the 6th US Navy, based in Naples, Italy.
He confessed that in May 2006, while in Naples, he programmed and introduced a logic bomb into computers that track the movement of submarines. Sylvester told the fleet investigators that he was angry that the contract for the project that he expected to receive was transferred to another company. After entering these codes into computers, Sylvester fled from Italy.
Three of the five computers on which he carried out his sabotage turned off. If his plan had worked on all five computers, the entire computer network that tracks the movement of submarines would be out of order.
“The fleet would be blind,” Assistant Prosecutor Robert Krask told the judge.
In the worst case scenario, a submarine collision could occur. However, this threat was minimized as a result of the two-day work of professionals involved in troubleshooting.
Rear Admirad Jeffrey L. Fowler, deputy commander of the 6th Fleet, told the court that computers are used to track the movement of submarines "because of the limited ability of the submarines themselves to detect submarine objects that pose a danger to navigation, including other submarines."
Computer sabotage prevented submarines from "preventing collisions and could lead to death", the admiral wrote in a two-page letter to court.
Fowler reported that troubleshooting required 540 man-hours. I had to check all 65 computers in the fleet center in Naples. The sabotage forced the Fleet to take additional security measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
In his request to release his client from imprisonment, lawyer Silvestra presented testimonies from family members and friends, who argued that these actions were completely inconsistent with his character. A certificate from a psychiatrist that Sylvester is prone to depression and manic-depressive psychosis was also presented.
Sister Sylvester Nancy Rapaport admitted that her brother had made a “terrible, monstrous mistake”, but asked the judge for leniency, given her brother’s lack of a criminal past and his devotion to working as a volunteer.
She stated that if she had been asked before the events, that her brother’s crime or alien landing would be more likely, she would have chosen aliens.
“I’m shocked that I’m here,” she said in court.
Judge Smith also fined Sylvester 10 thousand dollars and assigned him a three-year probationary period after his release. In addition, Sylvester must pay the Fleet for the damage caused by its actions 25 thousand dollars. While Sylvester remains at large. The judge ordered him to appear in federal prison to serve his sentence by June 1.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/30968/
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