Date: 27 Jan 92 18:48:35 EST
From: Gordon Meyer <72307.1502@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: File 3--Fine for "Logic Bomber"

"Logic Bomb Programmer Fined"
(Reprinted with permission from STReport 8.04  Jan 24, 1992)

 Michael John Lauffenburger, a 31-year-old programmer formerly with
 General Dynamics, pleaded guilty Nov. 4 to attempted computer
 tampering.  He has been fined $5,000, handed three years' probation
 and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for
 attempting to sabotage computers with a "logic bomb" that prosecutors
 say could have erased national security data.

 According to reports, Lauffenburger set up the logic bomb, then
 resigned, intending to get hired on as high-priced consultant to help
 reconstruct the data lost from the billion-dollar Atlas Missile Space
 Program when the virus was unleashed.  A co-worker accidentally
 discovered the rogue program in early May. It had been set to go off
 May 24. Investigators said at the time the bomb would have caused
 about $100,000 in damage to computer systems at the Kearny Mesa
 plant.

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