Oklahoma County Commissioner plans to request investigation of clerk's hacking

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The Oklahoma County Clerk said she welcomes any investigation of whether she violated state laws when she hacked into county computer files. <br/><br/>County Commissioner Stan Inman

Thursday, January 13th 2005, 5:46 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The Oklahoma County Clerk said she welcomes any investigation of whether she violated state laws when she hacked into county computer files.

County Commissioner Stan Inman wants state Attorney General Drew Edmondson to look into the actions of Carolynn Caudill. Inman said he plans to take the request to Edmondson on Thursday.

Caudill disclosed a security breach publicly last week, saying she discovered in January 2003 that she had access to others' files.

She browsed more than 20 files, including those of an assistant district attorney who worked on the Terry Nichols trial, over a five-hour period spanning two days, reports show.

Caudill said she immediately informed Commissioner Jim Roth of the security breach. Roth said he doesn't remember when she contacted him.

``The following morning I notified John Jacobsen with the District Attorney's office, and I contacted a representative from Commissioner Inman's office,'' Caudill said Wednesday in a prepared statement.

Inman said he learned of the breach from Jacobsen, first assistant district attorney, whose files also were among those accessed by Caudill.

Caudill should have immediately closed the restricted files and called the county's systems department, Inman said.

``There was no rationale for her whatsoever to take advantage of an internal vulnerability in our system to do her own snooping,'' he said.