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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Erin Duggan |
DISTRICT ATTORNEY VANCE ANNOUNCES GUILTY VERDICT IN TRIAL OF TIME WARNER CABLE TECHNICIAN |
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced a guilty verdict in the trial of LOUIS PUESAN, 45, a Time Warner Cable (“TWC”) technician who illegally installed a spyware program on three of his employers’ computers to enable him to gain unauthorized access to TWC’s customer database and billing system. On July 22, 2010, a jury convicted PUESAN of all of the charges in the 8-count indictment: Computer Trespass, Computer Tampering in the Third Degree, Unlawful Duplication of Computer Related Material, and Unlawful Possession of Computer Related Material. “Spyware programs are insidious because they often go undetected,” said District Attorney Vance. “This particular program copies every keystroke a user types on a keyboard, allowing criminals to steal passwords and other secret information. I would like to thank Time Warner Cable for discovering the defendant’s scheme so quickly and the jury for its attention to its duty.” As proven at trial, PUESAN, a TWC technician for more than 20 years, committed several computer crimes against his employer in February 2008, by installing unauthorized spyware on three of TWC’s network computers at its Northern Manhattan office at 401 West 219th Street. The spyware chosen by PUESAN was a “keylogger” program, designed to capture the keystrokes of any employee who sat down to use the computers and store them in a password-protected log, viewable only by PUESAN. According to testimony by a witness at the trial, the defendant’s stated purpose was to capture the passwords used by active employees with authorized access to TWC’s customer database and billing system. The security breach was detected in less than 24 hours by TWC and investigated by personnel from the company’s Information Technology and Security Departments. PUESAN never succeeded in returning to the facility and entering the customer billing system. Eyewitness testimony regarding the defendant’s criminal activities was corroborated by computer forensic examinations conducted by the Computer Crimes Squad of the New York City Police Deparment and the Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau of the District Attorney’s Office. The defendant is expected to be sentenced on September 13, 2010. District Attorney Vance thanked Assistant District Attorney Virginia Tu-Huong Nguyen, who prosecuted the case under the supervision of Trial Bureau 40 Chief Armand Durastanti, with the assistance of the District Attorney’s Office’s Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau. Defendant Information: LOUIS PUESAN, D.O.B. 8/25/64 Charges:
A class E felony is punishable by up to 4 years in prison. ### Additional news available at: www.manhattanda.org Follow us at twitter.com/ManhattanDA New York County District Attorney | duggane@dany.nyc.gov | 212-335-9400 |
