January 14, 2011 - Douglas James Duchak, age 47, formerly of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced by U.S. Circuit Court Judge David M. Ebel to serve 24 months in federal prison for attempting intentionally to damage a protected computer while he was employed by a private company that held a government contract.  

Duchak was ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence. In addition, Duchak was ordered to pay $60,587.07 in restitution to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The defendant, who appeared at the hearing on bond, was ordered to report to a Bureau of Prisons facility within 15 days of being designated at a particular federal prison. 

Douglas James Duchak was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 9, 2010. He pled guilty before Judge Ebel on October 19, 2010. He was sentenced on January 11, 2011.

On October 22, 2009, Duchak accessed a sensitive database, deleting instructional code from the program. That code was necessary to format dates of birth information received in connection with the arrest warrant database information. On October 26, 2009, Duchak?s replacement observed what he believed to be unauthorized code that would disrupt TSA?s security screening function. TSA personnel halted the computer function until they could ascertain the source and scope of the problems. On that same day, the defendant was contacted and notified that he should not return to work. 

Forensic examination of the electronic evidence showed that the unauthorized code was created and transmitted by Duchak on October 23, 2009, and that he thereby attempted to intentionally cause damage to TSA?s vetting databases. The defendant caused loss aggregating at least $5,000 or more during a one-year period, and if completed, would have caused damage affecting a computer used by the United States government in furtherance of national security. TSA incurred costs in responding to the offense, conducting damage assessments, and restoring the TSA filed for their screening functions. 

?The TSA databases are critical to protecting the traveling public,? said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. ?Thanks to the hard work of TSA and the FBI, a man was stopped from attempting to corrupt these databases.? 

?Due to effective security protections, TSA was able to detect and disrupt this attempt to corrupt a system designed to protect the traveling public,? TSA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Inspection Dave Holmes said. ?After bringing this matter to the attention of our law enforcement partners, we used every resource available to contribute to the investigation, and we are grateful to the U.S. Attorney for providing justice in prosecuting this case.?