This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Inspector General
Washington, D.C. 20546

March 4, 2003

RELEASE 2003-022: CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE CHARGED FOR DAMAGE TO NASA 
COMPUTER SYSTEM

On February 13, 2003, Dino A. Amato of Medina, Ohio was charged in U. 
S. District Court in Cleveland, Ohio with knowingly violating NASA 
regulations.

Amato, a contractor employee at Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., 
allegedly violated NASA regulations by using a NASA provided computer 
to download an unauthorized file from the Internet, then transmitted 
the file intentionally causing degradation in the performance of the 
NASA computer system.

The NASA Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigation's 
Computer Crimes Division, conducted the investigation.  The 
prosecution is being handled by Robert W. Kern, Assistant United 
States Attorney, Northern District of Ohio.

For more information on this release, please call Joe Kroener, 
Executive Officer, NASA Office of Inspector General, at (202) 
358-2558.

                          *** End ***

Please do not contact NASA Office of Public Affairs for information on
Office of Inspector General releases.

For additional information on the NASA Office of Inspector General,
including published reviews, audit reports, inspection/assessment 
reports, press releases, and other publications, please access our web 
site at:  http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq

Report Crime, Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement to the NASA OIG
Hotline at:  800-424-9183, TDD 800-535-8134.

 - End of File -
================

---