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SF Admin Gives Up Keys To Hijacked City Network

snydeq writes "Jailed IT admin Terry Childs relinquished his hold over San Francisco's multimillion-dollar FiberWAN, handing his administrative passwords over to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was 'the only person he felt he could trust.' Childs is still being held on $5 million bail for his lockout of the city's FiberWAN, a case that has been called into question since an insider came forward with details about both the network and Childs himself. The case hinges on No Service Password Recovery commands Childs allegedly configured onto several Cisco devices, as well as dial-up and DSL modems the SFPD has discovered that would allow unauthorized connections to the FiberWAN. Childs intends to 'expose the utter mismanagement, negligence, and corruption at DTIS, which if left unchecked, will in fact place the City of San Francisco in danger,' according to his motion. The Department of Telecom and IS has cut 200 of its 350 IT positions since 2000 — pressure that may have contributed to Childs' actions, according to interviews with current and former DTIS staffers. Newsom secured the passwords without first telling the DTIS that he was meeting with Childs."

42 of 581 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Falling Down by koafc · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess Newsom is an MCSE/CCNA and therefore is trusted.

  2. Did anyone else... by 4pins · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did anyone else wonder why a SourceForge administrator had the keys to a city's network.

    --
    I will not mourn that which I never had to lose. - Unknown
    1. Re:Did anyone else... by gregbot9000 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can see it now:

      Mayor: For your act of bravery we give you the key to the city's network!

      Citizen: Uh thanks, I guess I'll use that to download porn, and umm, upload torrents, and stuff...

      Mayor: Give use the key back.

  3. Actually ... by Van+Cutter+Romney · · Score: 5, Funny

    He was just too embarrassed by the password - ibonkedmymom.

    --
    Help a man when he is in trouble and he will remember you when he is in trouble again.
    1. Re:Actually ... by funwithBSD · · Score: 4, Funny

      *sigh* you just targeted the wrong audience.

      He was just too embarrassed by the password - ibonkedmydad

      Fixed!

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    2. Re:Actually ... by antifoidulus · · Score: 4, Funny

      ibonkedmymom

      Worst....Apple product.....EVER!

    3. Re:Actually ... by Rorschach1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey, it's possible. I'll never forget the first time we ran l0phtcrack on our 3000-user domain, back before any password policy was in place. It cracked 60% or 70% of the passwords in the first 30 minutes, and the list was full of good blackmail material.

      I remember scanning down the password list and coming across 'nosexforme'. Then I looked at the user name and collapsed laughing. The guy was someone everyone in the department knew, and he was a friendly, personable guy. Everyone ALSO knew his wife - the Ice Queen, who worked on the financial side and ruled over our department with an iron fist.

      Every person who came over to the console to see what the laughter was about did the same thing - looked at the password, followed the line over to the username, figured out who it was, realized the implication, and collapsed laughing.

      Ok, so it was maybe a little unprofessional of us, but we couldn't help it. And we all liked the guy, so it really engendered more sympathy than ridicule... and reinforced what we all thought of his wife anyway.

    4. Re:Actually ... by Neodudeman · · Score: 3, Funny

      I actually heard the password was '12345.' Coincidentally, I also hear Mayor Gavin Newsom has that same code on his luggage.

    5. Re:Actually ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      i'm pretty sure his mom is a special character

  4. Re:Falling Down by SimonGhent · · Score: 5, Funny

    handing his administrative passwords over to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was 'the only person he felt he could trust.'

    If he believes that the Mayor is going to be reconfiguring the routers he certainly is a nutjob!

    --
    simon
  5. Re:The more I read the less I know... by tb()ne · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'd like to see some comprehensive treatment of this tragicomedy written a year from now, when the dust has settled, and Childs' side of the story can be heard as well.

    Agreed. But only if it's in the form of a Broadway musical.

  6. Re:The more I read the less I know... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd like to see some comprehensive treatment of this tragicomedy written a year from now, when the dust has settled, and Childs' side of the story can be heard as well.

    Instead you will get a made-for-TV movie with oodles and oodles of computers running 12 screens each and a funny OS that only have warnings in 100 point sans-serif fonts and backgrounds which look suspiciously like an FBI badge.

    But the hero will be a down-on-his-luck gay single parent who obviously uses a Mac Book Pro to compute the primes needed to crack the passwords (while drinking a triple grande latte and eating a scone).

    Oh, and explosions. It will have lots of explosions.

    Almost forgot the half-naked teenage girls^Wboys (forgot, this was SF).

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  7. Re:Not too bad... by redJag · · Score: 4, Funny

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

  8. Re:Expose mismanagement by gx5000 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I swear I heard the Dilbert cartoon voice as I read your
    most insightful post ;-)

    I for one welcome our new Paranoid Admin Overlords

    (BOfH till I die!)

    --
    End of Line.
  9. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Funny

    There is a fine line between the white-cat-stroking genius in James Bond, and the crazy cat lady from the Simpson's.

  10. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by funwithBSD · · Score: 4, Funny

    Has anyone checked on his wife?

    I am just saying...

    --
    Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
  11. Sounds like a Heroes episode by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Save the network. Save the world."

  12. It Being San Francisco... by Illbay · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...Couldn't the guy have just MARRIED the computer system, then claimed that it couldn't testify against him under Spousal Privilege?

    --
    Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
  13. Re:The more I read the less I know... by RasputinAXP · · Score: 4, Funny

    And written by Joss Whedon, starring Neil Patrick Harris.

    We can call it Admin Horrible.

  14. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by Hektor_Troy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not sure we want to know what you do with your family at 2 AM in the morning. Wife/girlfriend, sure .. but not the rest of your family

    --
    We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
  15. Re:Well... by wasted · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...I would love to learn the word(s) that held SF hostage.

    Political_Correctness ?

  16. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by shadow349 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm not sure we want to know what you do with your family at 2 AM in the morning. Wife/girlfriend, sure .. but not the rest of your family

    Obviously, you have never met the Aristocrats.

  17. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by WhiplashII · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not wreckless if you crash.

    (Laugh, its a joke!)

    --
    while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
  18. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by f8l_0e · · Score: 1, Funny

    I heard she ran off with her best friend, Nina. The two having been heard from since.

  19. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by slapout · · Score: 2, Funny

    "I'd rather be a white cat-stroking schemer bent on world domination, because the former demonstrates a sick mind."

    Yeah, but think of all the money he saves on cat food!

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
  20. And the Password Is... by nobodynoone · · Score: 3, Funny

    1....2....3....4....5.

  21. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by myth24601 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Has anyone checked on his wife?

    You must be new here.

    --
    No matter where you go, there you are.
  22. Is this irony? by erroneus · · Score: 5, Funny

    To have someone ELSE give the "key to the city" to the mayor?

  23. Re:Falling Down by Smauler · · Score: 1, Funny

    I agree completely, I mean who in their right mind would object to anyone snorting coke on their desk?

  24. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    if (UserID TargetID) {
        MakeMustBeNewHereJoke();
    } else {
        STFU();
    }

  25. Re:Falling Down by dubl-u · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess Newsom is an MCSE/CCNA and therefore is trusted.

    It's actually Newsom's perfect hair that generates a trust enhancement field. Terry Childs saw through this, but recognized the hair as a superintelligent alien symbiont that is on our planet to save us from ourselves, so he gave the passwords directly to the hair.

  26. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by funwithBSD · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, I was hoping to get a Reiser out of someone.

    --
    Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
  27. Do you want to play a game? by deets101 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did anyone ever stop to think that maybe the computer became self aware? And because of this it started think and reason. Then it started try to take over and all this poor guy did was try to play Tic-Tack-Toe? I mean, that could happen, right?

    --

    --
    My parents went to Slashdot and all I got was this lousy sig.
  28. Not likely! by dreamchaser · · Score: 2, Funny

    I *am* the boss, you ignorant clod! ;-)

  29. Re:Falling Down by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Funny

    I mean who in their right mind would object to anyone snorting coke on their desk?

    I would. Everybody knows that the best way to snort coke is off a hookers ass. Didn't you learn anything in college? ;)

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  30. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by tsmit · · Score: 3, Funny

    He needed his family for a Molten Core run... his son is a level 70 warrior with the Sword of a Thousand Truths...

    --
    Yes, my girlfriend is a BitchX
  31. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by magarity · · Score: 2, Funny

    the City should never have allowed
     
    Did you just say a city government should proactively manage potential problems?
     
    Hahahahahahaha!!!

  32. I would argue C by geekoid · · Score: 2, Funny

    Stop using bad analogies. No one running any nuclear reactor in the US could be applied to your analogy.
    It is only another mental grain of salt on the anti-nuclear ignorance pile; which is big enough, thank you very much.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  33. Re:'the only person he felt he could trust.' by clang_jangle · · Score: 2, Funny

    you sir, have never been mentally ill so you know not what it is like.

    I would argue it's the people who claim to believe that "mental illness is not real" that are probably the most mentally ill people of all.

    --
    Caveat Utilitor
  34. "I'd rather be..." by msauve · · Score: 2, Funny

    "...a white cat-stroking schemer bent on world domination"

    Brain, is that you?
    -Pinky

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  35. Re:Just out of curiosity... what if he isn't? by magus_melchior · · Score: 2, Funny

    Correct scope:

    Corporate culture and governments in industrialized nations do not like to know that they've screwed up, and will fight kicking and screaming rather that admit that they've done something wrong.

    Take a gander at press statements of companies or governments that are caught red-handed doing something that any gerbil could tell you is wrong, and all they will ever apologize for is the fact that they were caught, or that people were inconvenienced.

    --
    "We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
  36. Re:Falling Down by Bryansix · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yo do know that gay marriages has a MUCH higher divorce rate then conventional marriages right?