Ex-employee of Airport Transportation Company Guilty of Hacking into Company's Computer

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>

http://www.cybercrime.gov/tranPlea.htm

April 18, 2003

Ex-employee of Airport Transportation Company Guilty of Hacking into
Company's Computer

A man previously employed at the administrative and operations center
of the Airline Coach Service and Sky Limousine Company in Inglewood
pleaded guilty today to a federal charge of hacking into the
companies' computer system and wiping out critical data. The hack
wiped out the companies' customer database and other records and
effectively shut down the companies' computer server, Internet-based
credit card processing system, and website.

Alan Giang Tran, 28, of Fountain Valley, pleaded guilty today in
connection with the attack, before the Honorable Dean D. Pregerson,
U.S. District Court Judge, to an information filed pursuant to a plea
agreement, charging him with intentionally causing damage to a
protected computer by knowingly causing the transmission of a program,
information, code, or command, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§
1030(a)(5)(A)(i) and (B)(i), a felony.

According to court documents, Airline Coach Service and Sky Limousine
are jointly owned companies with a combined gross annual revenue of
approximately $8.5 million. Tran was the network administrator at the
companies' facility in Inglewood, where he had administrator-level
passwords and privileges for all of the companies' computer
operations. Tran was recently terminated by the companies.

On January 5, 2003, the companies' computer system was attacked;
passwords on the system were changed and specialized software
applications were deleted. Because employees could not use the
computer system, the companies were unable to dispatch drivers to pick
up clients and the companies suffered thousands of dollars in losses.
Federal investigators executed a search warrant at Tran's home, where
they found several computers, a file folder marked "retaliation" and
information regarding the companies' computer systems.

Tran was ordered to appear on July 28, 2003, for sentencing. The count
to which Tran pled guilty carries a maximum possible sentence of 10
years in federal prison.

The case against Tran was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.



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