A British IT specialist immediately logged into the company's systems after being suspended, changed all passwords, and disabled MFA. Work stopped in the UK, Germany, and Bahrain.
A British IT specialist immediately logged into the company's systems after being suspended, changed all passwords, and disabled MFA. Work stopped in the UK, Germany, and Bahrain.
A UK system administrator has been sentenced to seven months and 14 days in prison for intentionally interfering with a company's IT infrastructure after he was suspended. The incident occurred in July 2022, Tom's Hardware reports .
Mohammed Umar Taj, 31, outraged by the management's decision, logged into the company's internal systems within hours of being suspended and intentionally changed employees' logins and passwords. The next day, he also hacked the multi-factor authentication (MFA) system, causing it to completely fail.
Because of his actions, the company lost over $200,000. These losses are related to interruption of operations and lost clients. In addition to financial losses, the company's reputation was also damaged: the incident affected not only the office in the UK, but also clients in Germany and Bahrain.
During a court hearing in Leeds, Taj pleaded guilty to a charge of unauthorized actions aimed at interfering with the operation of computer systems. The court decided on a real term of imprisonment. West Yorkshire Police, in its press release, emphasized the need to promptly disable access for employees after dismissal or suspension.
Similar cases of "vendetta" by former IT workers have already occurred in different countries. The problem often lies in carelessly configured access policies and the lack of clear security protocols when dismissing technical staff. According to the police, this case should serve as a reminder: protecting networks is not only about preventing attacks from the outside, but also about minimizing internal risks.
We previously wrote about how 55-year-old programmer Davis Lu from Houston, Texas, took revenge on his employer after he was fired and blocked the work of other employees at the company.
А мне знакомый рассказывал. Его друга уволили с работы. И все проги компании были куплены на почты этого админа. Доступ к программам пропал на следующий день. Доказать ничего не смогли. Пришлось заново покупать подписки.