One of the programmers contracted to develop a piece of software called Government-Wide Accounting and Reporting Program (GWA) for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) has been arrested for stealing part of the source code for which the United States spent $9.5 Million (€6.6 Million).
The FBI released a statement that appoints 32-year-old Bo Zhang from New York as being the main suspect in the case. Allegedly, between May and August 2011 Zhang had been assigned to the FRBNY to work on the development of a specific portion of the GWA’s source code.
During this period, the suspect copied the GWA’s source code onto his hard drive and later copied it to three other computing devices. He admitted that he used the code in connection to a private business he owned, where he taught computer programming.
“Zhang took advantage of the access that came with his trusted position to steal highly sensitive proprietary software. His intentions with regard to that software are immaterial. Stealing it and copying it threatened the security of vitally important source code,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice K. Fedarcyk said.
The GWA is a software system utilized by the US Department of Treasury to help keep track of the government’s finances. Maintained by the FRBNY, GWA also provides federal agencies with account statements that show their account balances with the US Treasury.
For his deeds, if found guilty, Zhang faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 (175,000 EUR).
“As today’s case demonstrates, our cyber infrastructure is vulnerable not only to cybercriminals and hackers, but also alleged thieves like Bo Zhang who used his position as a contract employee to steal government intellectual property.
“Fighting cyber crime is one of the top priorities of this office and we will aggressively pursue anyone who puts our computer security at risk,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
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