Man pleads not guilty in hacking case

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060829-9999-1m29hacker.html

By Ray Huard
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 29, 2006

A Chula Vista man pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges that he hacked 
into the computers of North County and San Diego health clinics, erasing 
patient and billing information.

Jon Paul Oson, 38, apparently was retaliating for what he considered a 
poor job evaluation when he hacked into the computers of his former 
employer, the Council of Community Health Clinics in San Diego, 
prosecutors said.

No one died as a result of the loss of patient records, but many people 
didn't get the care they needed, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitch 
Dembin.

It's callous and it's nasty, Dembin said in an interview after the San 
Diego federal court hearing.

Federal Magistrate Judge Nita L. Stormes ordered Oson held in jail in 
lieu of $75,000 bail on charges of damaging protected computers pending 
a Sept. 5 hearing.

If tried and convicted, Oson faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in 
prison and $500,000 in fines, Dembin said.

Oson worked as a network engineer and technical services manager for the 
Council of Community Health Clinics from May 2004 to October 2005, 
prosecutors said.

The council is a nonprofit agency that provides a variety of services to 
17 clinics that serve the poor and people with insufficient or no health 
care insurance in San Diego and Imperial counties.

North County Health Services is the largest clinic served by the council 
and relies on the council's computer system more than the other clinics, 
using the council for billing, scheduling of appointments and tracking 
patient medical records, prosecutors said.

Oson quit his job with the council after he got a performance evaluation 
that he didn't like, prosecutors said.

In an indictment returned by a federal grand jury Friday, Oson is 
accused of hacking into the council's computer network twice in December 
2005 and deleting patient information for North County Health Services.

Oson also is charged in the indictment with deleting software used by 
other clinics for e-mail, prosecutors said.

The case was investigated by the Cybercrime Squad of the FBI's San Diego 
division.

Ray Huard: (619) 542-4597; ray.huard at uniontrib.com

Copyright 2006 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.  A Copley Newspaper Site


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