A 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.

For those who would rather think about reducing their smoke intake . . . The E cig provides a clean and comfortable smoking alternative. With the e cigarette, there is no more stale tobacco smell on your hands, clothes, hair or furnishings. Everything including your car, home and office can be free of ashes, dirty cigarette butts and that lingering tobacco smell, thanks to electric cigarettes and electronic cigarette cartridge.

“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.

————————————-

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.

————————————-

Other Resources

Pres. Obama was not happy when he was told about the discovery of her secret nuclear plant in Iran. In his statement about this he stated it showed a “disturbing pattern” of evasion by Tehran. The president also can’t admit that this added urgency to the Geneva talks with world powers on October 1. Of course, Iranian officials deny everything saying they hoped the plant, which is under construction southwest of Tehran, would soon be ready enough to “blind” Iranian enemies and another was shocked that everybody was surprised they revealed its existence.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is aimed at electricity generation rather than weapons production as feared by the West, will meet the United States and five other powers in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday.

The U.S. president warned Iran on Friday, September 25, it would face “sanctions that bite” if it did not come clean.

“This is a serious challenge to the global non-proliferation regime and continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion,” he said on Saturday, said September 26,.

“That is why international negotiations with Iran scheduled for October 1 now take on added urgency,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday.

Britain, France and Germany have joined the United States in raising the prospect of new sanctions against Iran if it does not take steps to allay concerns about its nuclear program.

Russia also signaled a greater willingness to go along with sanctions while China said it favored a “dual track” approach of pressure and talks.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed “grave concern” in talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday and said Tehran had to show its intentions were peaceful.

“He emphasized that the burden of proof is on Iran,” Ban’s press office said in a statement.

Adding to the tension, Iranian media said Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards would hold missile defense exercises starting on Sunday and taking place over several days.

“COMPLETELY STUNNED”

Iran acknowledged it had a uranium enrichment facility near Qom for the first time on Monday in a letter to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s atomic energy organization, said Iran had assumed the disclosure would be welcomed.

“We are completely stunned and we were anticipating that the Western countries would welcome this measure by Iran,” he said.

For those who would rather watch a movie and listen to another argument . . . You can easily get a movie download like “Gamer”, which is a high-concept action thriller set in the near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Or you could simply get one of the old sci-fi movies online and watch it. Anything is better than arguing.

U.S. officials said the disclosure was aimed at pre-empting an announcement by Western governments, which were aware of the site. The IAEA demanded immediate access.  Ahmadinejad said on September 25 the plant was about 18 months away from starting up, it was legal and open for IAEA inspection and Western powers would regret accusing Iran of hiding it.  Low-enriched uranium can be used as fuel for power plants while highly enriched uranium can be used to make bombs.

“It’s not a secret site,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference in New York where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly.

Salehi said the plant was about 100 km (60 miles) south of Tehran, toward Qom. “There was absolutely no necessity for us to make any announcement on the facility since we are a year-plus before its completion,” he said on state television.

Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpayegani, who heads the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying the plant would start running “soon.”

“This new plant, God willing, will soon become operational and will make the enemies blind,” the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted him as saying. Iran already has a uranium enrichment plant near the central city of Natanz.

The foreign minister of Israel, which has refused to rule out pre-emptive military action to stop Iran developing an atomic weapon, called for an “unequivocal” response.

“The disagreement (on whether Iran is developing military nuclear capability) has been done away with,” right-winger Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Salehi did not say when an inspection would take place but it would be agreed with the IAEA.

Obama, who sought to engage Iran after taking office in January, said he remained committed to dialogue but Iran must cooperate with the IAEA.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, warned the West against taking measures which he suggested could affect Tehran’s existing cooperation with the IAEA.

________________________________________

My Take: When you are the governments of this world only to realize that they cannot deal with religious fanatics. Iran, Iraq, and all the other Arab nations believe that their religion is the only religion and everybody else is infidels. Like most governments, they don’t know what the phrase “live and let live” means.

The Arab nations are a nation of tribes. Many of them still live by old superstitions and have very few modern conveniences like running water. They still wear jewelry that contains a fight symbol in tribal pendants. I doubt very much that they have anything as modern as spin rings, but they do have plenty of symbolism in their culture.

From what I have been told, the Quran preaches peace. However, I have seen an English version of it and it is more confusing than the King James Bible. In fact, one section actually talked about torture and taking hostages during war. Maybe it is because I am Christian that I cannot understand why any “Bible” would talk about torture. I was always taught to “love thy enemy as you would love thyself.” It also doesn’t help that Christianity is gone overboard in trying to convert other cultures. Could that be why they hate the Western culture so much?

_____________________________________________

Other Resources

New Arrivals

Has your new family addition just made their entrance? You can introduce your little one to the world with grace, elegance, and sweetness with photo birth announcements. You can get assistance to create just the right birth announcements for your precious babe or babies!

In need of Colocation or Managed Hosting?

Are you looking for a colocation, dedicated servers, or managed hosting with reputable and cost effective hosting providers? One vendor can help you find a data center and even Chicago data centers easily. They can even help in your search for a server colocation if that is what you need.

Home or Business Security

In terms of physical security, New York City locksmiths work frequently involves making a determination of the level of risk to an individual or institution and then recommending and implementing appropriate combinations of equipment and policies to create “security layers” which exceed the reasonable gain to an intruder or attacker.  When more different security layers are implemented, more skills, knowledge and tools are required to defeat them. But because each layer comes at an expense to the customer, the application of appropriate levels without exceeding reasonable costs to the customer is often very important and requires a skilled and knowledgeable New York City locksmith to determine.