ACR DISPATCH COMPUTER CORRUPTED WHEN DATA BASE WAS CHANGED TO AUTHORIZE CERTAIN ARPTS TO BE USED AS ALTERNATES WHEN THEY ARE REALLY ILLEGAL FOR SUCH USE.

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IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT OUR DATA BASE WAS COMPROMISED. SOMEHOW; SOMEONE UPDATED THE COMPUTER TO ALLOW IT TO ACCEPT ARPTS NOT LISTED AS ALTERNATES IN OUR FLT PLAN DATA BASE. IT APPEARS IT AFFECTED OUR FLEET ONLY. HOW MANY FLTS WERE DISPATCHED WITH ILLEGAL ALTERNATES IS ANYONE'S GUESS. WE DISPATCHERS DO NOT NORMALLY LOOK UP AUTHORIZED ARPTS IN THE OPS SPECS. THE DATA BASE IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE CTL. I SUPPOSE IN THESE DAYS OF AUTOMATION WE NEED TO GET BACK IN THE 'BOOKS.' CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO. RPTR SAID A DISPATCH ANALYST WAS UPDATING THE DISPATCH DATA BASE AND ERRONEOUSLY CHANGED SOME ARPTS TO APPROVED ALTERNATES WHEN THEY WERE IN FACT NOT APPROVED. HE SAID IT WAS A HUMAN ERROR WITH NO ULTERIOR MOTIVES. HE SAID THE ERRORS HAVE BEEN CORRECTED BUT POINTED OUT THAT NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO PREVENT THE SAME THING FROM HAPPENING AGAIN. HE MENTIONED 2 OTHER RPTS HE HAS SENT IN REGARDING DATA BASE ERRORS WHICH COULD ALSO HAPPEN AGAIN. HIS MAIN COMPLAINT IS THAT WHEN ERRORS ARE FOUND; THEY ARE CORRECTED BUT NOTHING IS DONE TO PREVENT A RECURRENCE.