Emergency computers open to hacking, lawsuit claims
WEST CHESTER >> Chester County’s emergency responders’ mobile computer system lacks critical cyber-security protection and leaves the on-board units in 650 public safety vehicles vulnerable to hacking, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on behalf of a former employee of the county’s Department of Emergency Services.
David P. Cucchi claims in his complaint that he was fired from his position at the Department of Emergency Services in January after he spoke
about the lack of a critical piece of computer security to police in multiple jurisdictions, urging them to request software fixes for the glitch.
Cucchi, who the suit states worked as an information technology employee for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for nine years before being hired in August as a telecommunications specialist with the DES’ Integrated Communications Systems, also says he met with a representative of the county’s Human Relations Office to warn about the lack of proper cyber-security in the computer systems.
Shortly thereafter, he was fired for no good reason, the suit states.
Cucchi names as defendants in the case the county, Department of Emergency Services Director Robert Kagel, Assistant Director John Cocchi, and Human Relations Director Michelle Achenbach. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, contends the defendants violated Cucchi’s First Amendment rights, as well as state whistleblower and employment laws.
The suit asks that Cucchi be re-instated to his position with back-pay, seniority rights, and attorney’s fees. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert.
A spokesman for the
county, Rebecca Brain, said Tuesday the county had not yet been served with the complaint, She declined comment on the suit, as well as on the allegations that the county’s emergency mobile computers lack the property cyber security that Cucchi says he warned officials about.
According to the suit and a press release issued by the law firm of Mette, Evans & Woodside of Harrisburg, which is representing Cucchi, the IT specialist noticed the lack of proper cyber-security shortly after coming to work at the Department of Emergency Services, on the day before the county’s new computer aided dispatch system went live.
The complaint states that the public safety vehicles that have county-purchased mobile computers — including local police and fire departments and emergency medical services — have access to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database that allows them to access and exchange personal information on citizens.
But those records are susceptible to hackers through malware and other cyber-threats, the complaint alleges, because of a “dirty circuit” in the computers, making information such as birth dates, Social Security numbers, and other personal information gathered by responders at risk. The information would become available anytime a police officer communicated with the Department
of Emergency Services dispatch during a routine traffic stop, for example.
The lack of proper security violates the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Information Services security policy, the suit states.
When Cucchi became aware of the glitch, he notified his supervisor, Cocchi, and told him there was a way to fix the problem, installing on every mobile computer a software program. He was directed to start testing the fix, and the suit states he did so for units used by New Garden, East Whiteland, and West Whiteland police, as well as ambulances from Chester County Hospital and the county Director of Fire Services.
But he also says that he was told not to discuss the lack of security publicly, because it was a “political issue,” according to the suit. Because there was no general notice about the security problem, only those departments that requested the patch could receive it, Cucchi claims.
He felt troubled by the situation, and discussed the matter with people he was acquainted with in the FBI, as well as Parkesburg police, West Chester police, and West Chester University police. He claims Kagel and Cocchi became aware of his conversations prior to his termination.
Cucchi was fired after he was injured on the job in January, the suit states.
He is represented by attorney Aaron Martin.