Sentence for American Contractor for Sabotaging Government Navy Computers

A contractor in U.S. holding security clearance of the highest order has been proved guilty of break down of U.S. Navy computers of great importance that controlled submarine traffic. Richard Sylvestre, 43, from Boylston, Massachusetts faces charges of gaining unlawful access to a National defense computer of U.S. government. He allegedly installed malicious software on computer systems at the U.S. Navy's European Planning and Operations Command Center situated in Naples, Italy. Net-security published this on April 18, 2007.

In June 2006, when Sylvestre first appeared in court he said almost nothing. Magistrate James E. Bradberry asked Sylvestre if he understood why he was before the court. To that, Sylvestre only replied "Yes, sir". Content.hamptonroads published this in June 2006.

A Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent in Norfolk filed a complaint according to which Sylvestre confessed his crime. During the ongoing investigation, a PC administrator found that someone maliciously programmed a "cron job" into the computer system. A cron job sets a future date to start program commands.

Sylvestre admitted that he planted malware on the computers of the U.S. Navy. These computers gave commands to submarines for safe navigation and to avoid collisions under the sea. Sylvestre said he was disturbed about the passing over of the bid by his company on a certain project.

Sylvestre faces sentence of 12 months and one day in jail. After that he will be under supervised release for three years. He has to also pay a fine of $10,000 and restitution of $25,007. This follows his proven guilt for sabotaging protected US Navy computers.

Chuck Rosenberg, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the sentence following U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith's sentence to Sylvestre.

Judge Smith sentenced Sylvestre to the low end of sentencing guidelines because he had no criminal history. The guidelines can increase or decrease penalties based on a number of factors. In Sylvestre's case they therefore recommended 12-18 month jail term.

While lecturing Sylvestre, the judge wondered where one would be if people with top security clearances deceived in trust. Weblog published this in third week of April 2006.

» SPAMfighter News - 4/25/2007