Programmer Held in Alleged Sabotage Plot
A disgruntled General Dynamics computer programmer, hoping to increase his salary by creating a problem only he could solve, planted a computer “logic bomb” that could have destroyed vital data in the San Diego defense contractor’s Atlas rocket space program, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Federal officials allege that Michael J. Lauffenburger, 31, created a program he named “Cleanup” that was designed to destroy a database of Atlas rocket components, delete another set of programs used to respond to governmental administrative requests and then delete itself. The rogue program would not have affected the design or manufacture of the rocket itself.
Another General Dynamics programmer inadvertently ran across the program before it was activated and disarmed it, officials said. Assistant U.S. Atty. Mitchell D. Dembin estimated it could have done more than $100,000 in damage.
“We have never run into anything like this,” William D. Landreth, special agent in charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the investigating arm of the Department of Defense, said at a news conference. “This is the most egregious case of attempted computer sabotage I’ve ever seen. . . . It’s a new-wave type of crime.”
Lauffenburger, who had worked in the company’s Space Systems Division since June, 1989, created the destructive program in March, just four days before he resigned from his job, Landreth alleged. Investigators believe he was hoping that once the company discovered the damage, it would retain him as a consultant, paying him a substantially higher salary to help repair the system.
Lauffenburger allegedly timed his program to begin working at 6 p.m. on May 24, the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend. But in April, the Cleanup program caught the eye of another General Dynamics programmer, whose supervisors reported it to authorities.
Landreth said the investigation, which was conducted by his office and the U.S. Secret Service, indicated that Lauffenburger acted alone and that the Cleanup program was the only virus that he placed in the General Dynamics mainframe.
Lauffenburger was arrested Tuesday at the offices of his new employer, Community Care Network, a company that creates health-care billing programs for industries.
At his arraignment in federal court, he pleaded not guilty to two counts of computer fraud and computer tampering, each of which is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Lauffenburger was expected to be released late Tuesday after posting a $10,000 bond.
