Tech rigged S.F. computer meltdown, prosecutors say SAN FRANCISCO Prosecutors argue booby trap would cause files to disappear during routine maintenance

Terry Childs envisioned the ultimate revenge on his bosses, prosecutors say - the meltdown of the city's computer network at the flick of a switch.

And it would come not directly at the hands of Childs, but during routine system maintenance at the building that houses the city's Technology Department.

The alleged plot was discovered before the computer network that handles law enforcement documents, payroll records, officials' e-mail and other sensitive city records was shut down for scheduled maintenance last Saturday, an action that would have vaporized numerous files because of a booby-trap Childs had installed, prosecutors said in court documents filed Wednesday.

Childs, 43, has been jailed since July 13 on four felony counts of computer tampering after he allegedly locked his bosses at the Technology Department out of the system and refused to hand over the password he had created.

In arguing against a defense request to lower his $5 million bail, prosecutors said Childs had set up more than 1,000 computer modems in locked cabinets and other hiding places, including at least one in a room at the Hall of Justice that even police didn't know existed, to tinker with the system without his bosses knowing it.

Childs didn't hand over the access codes to the computer system until a jailhouse meeting with Mayor Gavin Newsom on Monday - two days after the network was to have been taken down for the routine maintenance.

"He had a malicious intent to destroy the entire network," prosecutor Conrad del Rosario said.

Childs' lawyer, Erin Crane, called the allegation "spurious" and said Childs is the victim of bosses who resent his expertise.

"When they couldn't get rid of him," they created a false image of a "rogue employee" out to terrorize the city, Crane said.

After a Superior Court hearing Wednesday, Judge Lucy Kelly McCabe refused to lower bail. Childs remains in the city jail pending a hearing Sept. 24.

Run-in with security chief

According to prosecutors' court filing, Childs' actions first came to authorities' attention the evening of June 20 when the city's new chief of network security, Jeana Pieralde, conducted an audit of the FiberWAN network housed at One Market Street Plaza.

His bosses were already worried that Childs was being increasingly hostile toward supervisors and had taken over a room and installed a bank of computers, prosecutors said. They didn't know exactly what he was doing.

Childs was upset that no one had told him of the audit and used his cell phone to photograph Pieralde. Frightened, she locked herself in an office and later reported the incident to police.

Crane said Childs was angry that Pieralde was "(going) through his things" and had photographed her because she was taking away a device that didn't belong to her.

A supervisor in the Technology Department, Rich Robinson, also filed a police report about the incident and quoted Childs as saying, "I'm ready for you, Rich."

Childs denies threatening anyone, Crane said.

Surprising find

On July 9, after supplying his bosses with passwords to the system that turned out to be false, Childs was suspended.

The following week, with system administrators locked out of their network and Childs sitting in jail, a consultant advising the city discovered that Childs had rigged the network so that files would be erased if someone tried to figure out what the proper password was, prosecutors said.

Childs had created an ability to track anyone who tried to get into the system, kept his own e-mail server and had been using the modems locked in storage cabinets to create a private network, prosecutors said.

The consultant, Anthony Maupin, also found that because Childs had fashioned his makeshift system to run off temporary, short-term memory, a power outage - such as turning off the computer for maintenance - would mean full system failure, del Rosario said.

The system was rigged that way in May by a user named Maggot617 , a city computer analysis showed. Prosecutors say "Maggot" was Childs.

"This setup or configuration is contrary to any logic of protecting the system," del Rosario said. Childs was well aware of the scheduled system shutdown last Saturday, he said. "The defendant had a note on his desk reflecting this power outage."

Secret room

On Monday, when Childs supplied three user names and an access code to Newsom, officials learned they could use them to get onto the system only at a computer in a room at the Hall of Justice that even police technology experts were unaware of.

Investigators say they are still worried about the modems hidden away in locked filing cabinets in public buildings around the city. Maupin told prosecutors that city officials estimate there are 1,100 such modems. Childs could still gain access to the network through any of them and create more mischief, prosecutors say.

In arguing that his bail not be lowered, prosecutors said a search of Childs' Pittsburg home turned up a co-worker's identification. They said they fear he could impersonate other employees to obtain access to the network.

They also said he had $10,000 cash on him when he was arrested, supporting their fear he would be a flight risk if released.

Childs' attorney maintains Childs is being scapegoated by incompetent officials resentful of his abilities in computer network management. The modems he installed in locked cabinets, she said in a bail reduction motion, were for the "sole purpose of maintaining the system."

Some of the protections, she said, were put in place after Childs concluded that a colleague inadvertently infected the city's network with a virus two years ago. It was Childs who put up the firewalls, with management approval, she said.