Cited: MSNBC/UPI

TSAA former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) worker has been charged by federal prosecutors with high-tech sabotage.  The ex-worker was attempting to sabotage the terror watch lists on computers with a computer virus, according to NBC News and NBC affiliate KUSA-TV in Denver.

Douglas Duchak, 46, of Colorado Springs, Colo., faces two charges of attempting to damage protected TSA computers, according to federal prosecutors. He is expected to appear in Denver federal court March 10 afternoon, and could face 10 years in prison if he is convicted.

On October 22, 2009, seven days after he was told his employment would be terminated on Oct. 30, Duchak injected unauthorized code into the CSOC server containing data from the U.S. Marshal’s Service Warrant Information Network, the DOJ alleges. That action comprises the first count of the indictment.

Duchak was an employee at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center (CSOC) from August 2004 through Oct. 23, 2009. He worked as a data analyst in charge of updating TSA computers with information received from the federal government’s Terrorist Screening Database and the U.S. Marshal’s Service Warrant Information Network.

If Duchak had been successful in introducing the virus, it “would have caused damage affecting a computer used by the United States government in furtherance of national security,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office told KUSA-TV.

“Prosecution of the defendant is critical to protecting the integrity of the government’s security databases,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Gaouette.  This case was investigated by the TSA, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

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“While this threat was an attempted internal attack on a cyber-based system by a U.S. citizen, the FBI will invest the time, resources, and hard work necessary to pursue prosecution of these cases,” FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Denver office Jim Davis said in an interview with KUSA-TV.

“The tampering with a computer that is used as a tool to protect National Security of the United States will not be tolerated,” he said.

If convicted, Duchak faces up to 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $500,000 — $250,000 per count.

Duchak surrendered to U.S. Marshals March 10 morning and appeared in court in the U.S. District Court in Denver that afternoon. He pleaded not guilty and was released on a $25,000 bond, according to the court.  His trial has been scheduled for May 17.

According to the indictment, Duchak sent a code or virus into computers at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center in the attempt to disable the TSA computer system, which receives information from the government’s Terrorist Screening Database and the U.S. Marshal’s Service Warrant Information Network.  The indictment also stated that the TSA computer system is critical in the “vetting of individuals” who are attempting to gain access to “secure areas of the nation’s transportation system.”  Duchak’s duties included updating the databases with new information, according to the indictment.

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My Take: To some extent I can understand an employee being upset because they were fired.  But what I cannot understand is why somebody would put their own country in danger because they were fired.  This man needs to contact a criminal lawyer Vail CO or a Manasquan NJ criminal defense lawyer!

I do know one thing is for sure, that the TSA would need data recovery big time if that virus had gone off.  Now, if they have got something called remote backup, they probably would not have such a hard time getting your system back up.  Worst case scenario, they would need disk recovery.

One thing is positive, Duchak is in deep Doo-Doo!  If he actually needed him on Monmouth County drug crimes lawyer, he would probably get lower sentence.  What he did is tantamount to treason in my eyes.  Not even a firm of Denver civil Law attorneys could get him off.

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