Contractor gets prison for sabotaging Army computer program

GREENVILLE, N.C. – An Atlanta man convicted of sabotaging a computer program housed on servers at an Army base in North Carolina has been sentenced to two years federal prison.

Citing a U.S. Attorney’s Office release, WRAL-TV reports 49-year-old Mittesh Das, a defence contractor, was also ordered to pay the government $1.5 million in restitution. He was convicted on a charge of knowingly transmitting malicious code with the intent to cause damage to a U.S. Army computer used in furtherance of national security.

A Fort Bragg-based program handling pay and personnel actions for nearly 200,000 reservists began experiencing problems in 2014. Troubleshooting found suspicious code. Investigators determined Das installed malware after the Army chose a different contractor to oversee the program.

The Army spent more than $2.5 million to remedy the damage.

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Information from: WRAL-TV, http://www.wral.com