Update: City IT admin pleads innocent to network tampering charges

IDG News Service - SAN FRANCISCO -- A disgruntled network administrator today pleaded innocent to charges that he set up an unauthorized access system for a major city of San Francisco computer network.

Terry Childs, 43, who pleaded not guilty to computer tampering charges in San Francisco Superior Court, is being held on $5 million bond, an unusually high amount for a computer tampering case. He faces seven years in prison if convicted on all counts. He was arrested on Sunday and charged with four counts of computer tampering. Judge Paul Alvarado scheduled a bail hearing set for July 23.

Administrators have been struggling for the past few weeks to regain control of the city's fiber WAN after Childs allegedly reset administrative passwords to its switches and routers, and refused to divulge them to authorities. He is also alleged to have planted unauthorized devices on the city's network.

As of today, the city has still not recovered administrative control of its routers, but the WAN is operating normally, said Ron Vinson, chief administrative officer with the city's Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS). He said it was hard to predict when the problem would be fixed, noting that it could take days or weeks to resolve the situation. "We feel very confident that we will have full access," Vinson said.

The network, used to connect computers located in buildings throughout the city, carries about 60% of the city government's network traffic.

Childs is a network administrator in the DTIS, which runs, among other things, San Francisco's e-mail system, Web site, 311 customer service call center and the telecommunications infrastructure.

He had became erratic and then hostile with colleagues after a recent security audit uncovered his activities on the network, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Childs was somber and respectful in his brief court appearance today as he stood before the judge handcuffed from behind and clad in the orange sweatsuit issued by the San Francisco County Jail.

A supporter in the courtroom, Dana Hom, told reporters at the courthouse that Childs should have been placed on administrative leave and investigated -- not arrested -- for the incident. Hom, a former director in the city agency who called himself a "casual friend" of Childs, blamed the incident on "poor, poor management" within the department.

"I have seen what I thought was the worst, but this takes the cake," said Hom, who now runs a PC repair company in Windsor, Calif. "I'm here because I see a travesty of justice."

Hom described Childs as "very gentle" and "one of the most competent IT engineers ever."