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Terry Childs -- Will the true story ever be told?

141 comment(s)

Terry Childs, the net admin arrested on July 12, 2008 for disrupting San Francisco’s wide-area network, still sits in the City of San Francisco’s county jail. He says he did nothing illegal while working for the city and argued that his actions, depicted as criminal, were in line with standard network security practices.

According to this piece from InfoWorld, a court filing made back in late July opposing the bail for Childs claimed the following:

  • Childs configured a number of routers and switches with ‘no service password-recovery,’ which would prevent anyone from recovering the passwords without losing the IOS image and configuration.
  • He removed the start-up configuration from some devices, leaving them operational via the running config, but they would be lost during a power outage or reboot.
  • There were various methods that Childs could have used to gain access to the FiberWAN, including “wireless access devices to different departments.”
  • In his work area and home, they found lists of usernames and passwords, including the password of his supervisor. He also apparently had installed sniffers on the network.

The author of the InfoWorld piece, Paul Venezia, makes some great points both in support of and against these claims. Venezia followed the case closely, which culminated in his actually conducting an interview with Childs at the jail.

It makes some interesting reading and poses the ultimate question: Was Childs actually committing a crime, or was he just doing his job, becoming a victim of the worst case ever of company executives not understanding just what IT does?

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Toni BowersToni Bowers is the Head Blogs Editor of TechRepublic. She has been in the publishing industry for 20 years, with concentration in IT-related topics. She has edited newsletters, books, and web sites pertaining to software, IT career, and IT management issues.

Print/View all Posts Comments on this blog

Do any of these conflict with the security policy sidekick | 02/20/09
No Angel jdelorimier@... | 02/27/09
Assumptions c.shane.bumpurs@... | 02/27/09
username/passwords *written down* aptechme | 02/27/09
Why would he need to know the passwords of end users? sshrauner@... | 02/27/09
Similar Situation chancea@... | 02/27/09
Fully understood. Mad Mole | 03/02/09
let my people go! Support Slug | 03/05/09
Guilty as sin!! jeno.mozes@... | 02/27/09
Crazy jpb@... | 02/27/09
What program doesn't allow password resets? bugdog@... | 02/27/09
Dear PBJ jeno.mozes@... | 02/27/09
Right on Brother lmnogoldfish | 02/27/09
Thats not so far fetched. Beoweolf | 02/27/09
He Mostly Sounds Just Incompetent smiller987 | 02/27/09
Not necessarily ksidwell@... | 02/27/09
Logic failure pgabhart@... | 02/27/09
Only claimed riceski@... | 03/01/09
People in grass houses... stewagd@... | 02/27/09
So you're saying the end justifies the means? ben@... | 02/27/09
Yes jeno.mozes@... | 02/27/09
I second that.... alohabear@... | 02/28/09
Instead of reading the Media Reports HAL 9000 | 03/01/09
Agree... what he did was overkill marathoner | 03/01/09
Hum he's not a Net Admin in the conventional sense of the word HAL 9000 | 03/01/09
I wish that I had thought of half of what this guy was acussed of! timothy_armstrong@... | 03/03/09
Just an employee butkus@... | 02/27/09
What if this were a business? And YOU were his boss? b.kinney1@... | 02/27/09
Every Admin has to provide for what if I'm hit by a bus joeller | 02/27/09
Best practices...lol jpb@... | 02/27/09
Company Policy jlofgren@... | 02/27/09
stupid=criminal? lrdcemb@... | 02/27/09
Generally speaking, Yes stewagd@... | 02/27/09
In this case, I would disagree... Spiritusindomit@... | 02/27/09
I'm with you snideley59@... | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? support@... | 02/20/09
In the interview linked to in the article OnTheRopes | 02/20/09
Another on the 27th seanferd | 02/20/09
Security consistency seems lacking in the story. charles.bundy@... | 02/20/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? fernlyn@... | 02/20/09
Self protection andy@... | 02/27/09
Concur completely joeller | 02/27/09
CYA vs. production rbcline | 02/27/09
DOCUMENT FOR SURE hmmmmm! | 02/27/09
Rally? I mean, really? Timbo Zimbabwe | 02/27/09
What equipment do you think was involved here? HAL 9000 | 02/27/09
Prosecutions. DHCDBD | 02/20/09
Nearer the incident Dr Dij | 02/21/09
Perhaps. DHCDBD | 02/21/09
I'm not trying him or on jury Dr Dij | 02/22/09
RE: And failure to unlock a computer system IS HAL 9000 | 02/22/09
Allowing politicians/bureacrats nfhiggs@... | 02/28/09
Not saying the I.T. professional is right MichaelSawyer1969@... | 02/27/09
Re: Not saying the I.T. professional is right bpate@... | 02/27/09
RE: IMHO I think he made a huge mistake in doing this to THEIR network. HAL 9000 | 02/27/09
Security gone to far jamesddavis@... | 02/27/09
Cisco routers can be booted remotely. lmnogoldfish | 02/28/09
Paranoia will... SgtPappy | 02/27/09
Paranoia will.. consultmed@... | 02/27/09
I think Terry Childs went too far AV . | 02/21/09
While I havent followed thoroughly w2ktechman | 02/22/09
Common network practices AV . | 02/22/09
I dont disagree here w2ktechman | 02/22/09
I'm still not comfortable with the witholding of passwords AV . | 02/22/09
RE: I'm still not comfortable with the witholding of passwords HAL 9000 | 02/22/09
Passwords to the Mayor???? jamesddavis@... | 02/27/09
JamesD stop thinking about what is right and wrong here HAL 9000 | 02/28/09
He's a schnook but not a criminal fidlrjiffy@... | 02/24/09
That's the rub lcashion@... | 02/27/09
Management fault? gary@... | 02/27/09
What Guilt? HAL 9000 | 02/27/09
AV the entire problem here is related to money HAL 9000 | 02/22/09
There aren't enough facts that I've read AV . | 02/23/09
RE: There aren't enough facts that I've read HAL 9000 | 02/23/09
Right on AV MichaelSawyer1969@... | 02/27/09
Need the appropriate approvals zamorajz@... | 02/27/09
Managements problem? ctech1 | 02/27/09
I would not have turned them over lcashion@... | 02/27/09
Controversial aldrouin@... | 02/27/09
System Ownership gary@... | 02/27/09
crossed the line simonwilson@... | 02/27/09
Great point gforsythe7@... | 02/27/09
Agreed ernestm@... | 02/27/09
System Ownership riceski@... | 02/27/09
Game Over - Saaanap!!! MichaelSawyer1969@... | 02/27/09
Ownership bcampbell | 02/27/09
Assigned System owner lcashion@... | 02/27/09
ASSIGNED owner tuomo@... | 02/27/09
good point, easy answer fish7170 | 03/04/09
He agreed to turn over the password very early on Neon Samurai | 03/05/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? SchalkVermeulen@... | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? Bill_CA | 02/27/09
Not enough evidence to make a judgement Dr_Zinj | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? zamorajz@... | 02/27/09
Should have used change management zamorajz@... | 02/27/09
Did you read the post above the one you replied to? Datacommguy | 02/27/09
Should he be in jail for this??? niko.stas@... | 02/27/09
Bad and unprofessional moves. ITAuditGuy | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? dawsfive1 | 02/27/09
No rogue admins - inform your boss! ppostma@... | 02/27/09
Supervisor Incompetence. trichardson@... | 02/27/09
Toxic work places abound. Beoweolf | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? jszivos@... | 02/27/09
Dangerous Precedent bob.raffo@... | 02/27/09
I'm thinking he did them a favor harrylal | 02/27/09
Unprofessional and overstepping the bounds bryan_es@... | 02/27/09
Bingo! bernalillo | 03/13/09
What a Crock HAL 9000 | 03/14/09
Spot on seanferd | 03/14/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? david.reed77@... | 02/27/09
For the most part I support Terry john@... | 02/27/09
Devil's advocate drbayer | 02/27/09
A bit dumb perhaps....in not keeping full restore records chaz15 | 02/27/09
All Admins. Are you storring your network users information in your home? jeno.mozes@... | 02/27/09
Yes cduncan@... | 02/27/09
No! drbayer | 02/27/09
Completly agree! jeno.mozes@... | 02/27/09
I agree with you both melekali | 02/27/09
No but I know some who keep backups there. bernalillo | 03/02/09
Re No but I know some who keep backups there. consultmed@... | 03/07/09
Storing backups at home is a bad idea. bernalillo | 03/13/09
Interview with Paul Venezia about the Childs case EkaInfinitos | 02/27/09
I have lived in San Francisco for 17 years now cduncan@... | 02/27/09
Two Sides to All Stories DSCtsuru | 02/27/09
High school lawyering bernalillo | 03/02/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? wscogg9@... | 02/27/09
Politics Aside PVBenn | 02/27/09
Some of the responces here warrant the publics concern bernalillo | 02/27/09
Where's the Beef? scarville@... | 02/27/09
I meant tftp scarville@... | 02/27/09
IT Response: Call your lawyer before starting to work for anyone rscarlat@... | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? dcollins@... | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? nateorme@... | 02/27/09
As an Admin... melekali | 02/27/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? pgabhart@... | 02/27/09
He needs to Document his deployment julian.white@... | 02/28/09
The interesting thing here is that the City HAL 9000 | 02/28/09
incompetence or corruption? lordtemporal@... | 02/28/09
Or he belonged to the wrong Click or maybe not even one at all. :D HAL 9000 | 03/01/09
RE: Terry Childs - Will the true story ever be told? hemanruss@... | 03/01/09
Well at least a lot of them where HAL 9000 | 03/01/09

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