NORFOLK - A former government contractor whose top-secret security clearance enabled him to sabotage Navy 6th Fleet computers was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison.
Richard F. Sylvestre of Boylston, Mass., pleaded guilty to one count of damaging protected computers and could have faced as much as 10 years in prison.
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A s the now-former owner of Ares Systems International, Sylvestre held a contract to provide computer maintenance for the Navy's 6th Fleet, based in Naples, Italy.
He confessed to programming malicious software codes into computers that track Navy submarines in May 2006 while in Naples. He told Navy investigators that he was upset that his company's bid on a project was passed over. Sylvestre had fled Italy after he entered the codes.
Three of five computers that he sabotaged were shut down. Had his plan succeeded in reaching all five, the entire network would have been disabled.
"The Navy would have been blind," Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Krask told the judge.
It hard to believe that the navy just lets an individual, no matter how trusted, modify the code in operational systems without extensive independent code review and change auditing. If this isn't an isolated lapse, then this looks like a serious weakness in the security of our military command and control systems.
). My stepdad worked for the Office of the Inspector General after leaving the Navy. He investigated cases of corruption and sabotage in the IRS, the EPA, and NASA.