« Convicted child murderer Bunnell denied new trial | Today | Tonight: How about taking on 'Taming of the Shrew'? »

May 22, 2008

Update: Contractor accused of hacking DOT computers

PROVIDENCE -- The State Police today accused Shire Corp., a major contractor for the state Department of Transportation, of illegally rifling through the DOT's computer system to get confidential information about other contractors' projects.

The police said in court filings that the information gave Shire a major advantage in dealing with the DOT, particularly in delaying projects to Shire's advantage.

The state police searched the company's Cranston headquarters today. They said in court documents that Shire apparently gained accesss to sections of the computer system that were supposed to be accessible only to DOT employees by guessing DOT staff members "very simple" user names and passwords.

The DOT uses the computer system to track all of its construction projects, but also lets contractors use it to monitor their own projects' change orders and payments, and to request information from DOT engineers about contract terms.

The state police said DOT officials became suspicious when a Shire employee began making information requests that could only have been based on information that supposed to be inaccessible to Shire.

The state police that the DOT computer system was "accessed unlawfully" as recently as May 9.

Shire Corp., a construction company specializing in bridge work, has received tens of millions of dollars in contracts during the past several years. Those have included many of the DOT’s most troubled projects, suffering long delays and expensive disputes with the DOT that have been often settled in Shire’s favor.

One of its current projects is the Barrington Bridge, which has taken so long to build that the DOT has had to repave the temporary bridge next to it twice. The bridge carries traffic on Route 114, a heavily traveled secondary road running up the east side of Narragansett Bay, across the Barrington River.

That project is taking twice as long to build as it was supposed to, and it could cost more than twice as much as its $10.4 million bid price. With the project far behind schedule, the state paid Shire $5.3 million in September 2006 to settle the company’s claim that the DOT caused the delays.

Extra: Find more details in the State Police request for a search warrant and accompanying affidavit.

Read more about the State Police search of the contractor's offices this morning.

-- Journal staff writer Bruce Landis

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:56 PM | Permalink

Comments

Jim Murphy | May 22, 2008 7:07 PM link

Keep it simple, stupid (KISS of death) | May 23, 2008 9:35 AM link

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)