Police: Fired worker erased data
The Rome-Floyd GIS mapping network is back up and running after being down for almost three days before IT workers could restore it.
A former city of Rome employee is charged with felony computer trespass and interference with government property after he reportedly deleted the Rome-Floyd GIS mapping data after he was terminated, jail reports stated.
According to the Floyd County Jail reports:
Matthew Scott DeFoor, 41, of 15 Honeytree Trail NE, was arrested late Thursday. Warrants stated that on March 19 DeFoor intentionally accessed the city’s computer system and deleted the GIS — Geographic Information System — mapping data. The data is jointly compiled by city and county departments and overseen by the RomeFloyd GIS Division.
Rome City Manager Sammy Rich said
DeFoor was terminated by the city March 17.
DeFoor had been put on notice that he wasn’t living up to expectations, Rich said, and had been given an extension of time to rectify the situation. He said he could not discuss the specifics of DeFoor’s violations.
After DeFoor was terminated, Rich said, he was locked out of the city’s computer system but somehow was able to access the GIS network remotely over the weekend and took it offline.
The GIS system was down for the better part of three days before information technology staff could access data that had been backed up electronically.
Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord said he got a number of calls about the offline system, primarily from real estate executives.
DeFoor was released from jail on $3,500 bond Friday.