ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

Ex-IT worker charged with sabotage

By Staff, CNET News, 19 December, 2002 09:08

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

Crime, Charge, Computer, Sabotage, logic bomb, Viruses

NEWS
A former system administrator for UBS PaineWebber was arraigned in a New Jersey federal court on Tuesday on charges of sabotaging two-thirds of the company's computer systems in an attempt to crash its stock price. A two-count indictment charged 60-year-old Roger Duronio with being behind the more than $3m (about £2m) in damage caused when malicious programs placed on some 1,000 of UBS PaineWebber's nearly 1,500 computers became active on 4 March and deleted files. The indictment alleges that the Bogota, New Jersey resident, who had left UBS PaineWebber 10 days before the deletion of the files, would have profited if the company's stock had fallen as a result of the attack. "Cybercrime against financial institutions is a significant issue," District Attorney Christopher J. Christie said in a statement. "Although the damage was contained in this case, the potential for catastrophic damage in other cases is always there." Duronio posted a $1m bond on Tuesday for his release, according to a representative of the US Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, the office prosecuting the case. Duronio's defense attorney, Justin Walder, could not be immediately reached for comment. In a seven-page indictment, a federal grand jury charged Duronio with one count of securities fraud and one count of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The indictment alleges that in his role as a system administrator for UBS PaineWebber, Duronio used the company's secure network to plant "logic bombs" -- destructive computer programs that are set to trigger at a specific time or as the result of a specific action -- in nearly 1,000 of the company's approximately 1,500 networked computers located in 370 branch offices. The malicious program had instructions to delete all the files stored on the systems at 9:30 am on every Monday in March, April and May of 2002. Duronio had left the company on 22 February, 10 days before the first trigger date. He had allegedly complained repeatedly about his salary and bonuses from the company. Around the same time, Duronio purchased options to sell 31,800 shares of UBS stock at an average strike price of $42.91. Such options make money only if the stock price falls below the purchase price before the options expire. The indictment alleges that the former system administrator believed that crashing the company's systems would cause its stock price to plummet before his options expired on 15 March. The alleged plan in some ways resembles the Emulex fraud incident that caused that company's stock to fall by more than 50 percent. Logic bombs have in the past been used by irate employees against their employers. In February, Timothy Allen Lloyd was sentence to 41 months in prison for leaving behind malicious programs that deleted critical data from the servers of high-tech measurement company Omega Engineering. Prosecutors in the case said the attack cost the company $10m. Insider attacks are generally considered the most costly for companies. The attack allegedly carried out by Duronio failed to have the desired effect, however. The attack was not made public at the time, and UBS's stock didn't fall below $45 in March 2002. On Wednesday, the stock stood at $49.34. If found guilty, Duronio could serve as much as 20 years in prison and be subject to fines of more than $1.25m. Representatives of UBS PaineWebber could not be reached for comment.
For all security-related news, including updates on the latest viruses, hacking exploits and patches, check out ZDNet UK's Security News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the Security forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Related stories

Law may be updated to cover DoS attacks

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

BrownieBoy

@Jack, > Works really well for thieves.... Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally irrelevant, even it were...

50 minutes ago by BrownieBoy on AMD Ultrathins to challenge Intel Ultrabooks
bootlegger

Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...

4 hours ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out
tinycg

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

6 hours ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move
TerryRK

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

11 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Freebies202

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

21 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source
kevinmchapman

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

1 day ago by via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
zdnetukuser

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

1 day ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface
Moley

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

2 days ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

2 days ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

2 days ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Latest in IT Strategy

Heart of England NHS begins massive digitisation plan

Hard-drive woes hit PC shipments in fourth quarter

Featured white papers

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

Citrix Online

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

This white paper explores how to define objectives for employees and clients and how the business can benefit from encouraging... Read more

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

IBM

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

This IBM research paper looks at how businesses are thinking more about business resilience by improving the ability to adapt to a continuously changing business... Read more

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

SunGard Availability Services

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

Cloud computing has been the belle of the IT ball, but can you trust it to keep data reliable and... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault