THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110281
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The FBI and congressional authorities are investigating an apparent intrusion into the office computer system of U.S. Rep. Owen B. Pickett, a Virginia Beach Democrat, according to congressional sources.
Pickett confirmed Friday that his office had detected a breach of computer security and referred the matter to ``the appropriate authorities.'' He and aides declined further comment, as did an FBI spokeswoman and the House official in charge of protecting members' computer systems.
Protection of electronic files is an ongoing concern in the House. A scathing 36-page report issued 10 months ago by the House inspector general warned that member and committee computers were vulnerable to intrusion by hackers.
Jim Davison, a spokesman for the House's chief administrative officer, said authorities believe the April 25th incident resulted from ``a computer glitch'' in which more than 1,000 electronic mail messages originally sent last November were retransmitted.
About 100 of those messages went to a Pickett staffer; the rest were sent to other House members and employees, Davison said. The e-mail involved was ``public'' - the kind that any constituent might send to a congressman - as opposed to private messages between lawmakers and their staffs, the spokesman said.
Another source familiar with the inquiry gave a considerably different description of the breach, however. Though the probe is in its preliminary stages, the source said there are indications that one or more Republican staffers in the House Information Resources office gained access to electronic mail and files in Pickett's office.
Some of the files were deleted and then restored, the source said, creating an electronic trail that revealed the breach.
The source said investigators have been told the intrusion occurred as part of a training session for the GOP staffers. There is no indication that Pickett was being targeted for some sort of political skullduggery.
Pickett, a 10-year House veteran, represents Virginia Beach and part of Norfolk. His district is considered a prime Republican target once he retires, but Pickett has easily fended off a variety of challengers and is expected to have only token opposition this year.
Though Pickett's was the only office to report such an incident, the House has had a variety of problems with its computer systems.
The House inspector general's report last July found dozens of weaknesses in computer security. The chamber's chief administrative officer agreed to a detailed plan to eliminate them. Davison said Friday that almost all the provisions of that plan had been implemented.
The report said there was ``a high risk of unauthorized access, modification, and destruction of data residing on member, committee and other House office computer systems. Systems supported by the House Information Resources organization and outside vendors were vulnerable to external access.''
Concerning e-mail, the report said ``the potential existed for e-mail messages to be intercepted. . . . Consequently, opportunities for unauthorized disclosure and modification of confidential e-mail messages existed.''
The report also focused on weaknesses in the security checks done on new employees who work with the House computer system and said that longtime employees had never been subjected to such checks.
To show the potential for trouble in such an environment, the report recounted the case of a former House employee ``who was not a U.S. citizen and had falsified his/her social security card and state driver's license. The individual was employed as a computer operator and had access to payroll checks and other sensitive data for five years, until detected by a Department of State investigation . . .
``Failure to institute requirements for employee background checks could result in the continued hiring of unscrupulous employees and have devastating implications on House resources,'' the report said.
Many employees had access to far more of the House's computer network than their jobs would require, the report also said. ILLUSTRATION: Drawings
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