A former cloud engineer has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for hacking into his former employer’s network and causing substantial damage. Miklos Daniel Brody, 38, was fired from First Republic bank for downloading porn onto a USB stick using the company’s computers. He then used a work laptop that he had not returned to log into the bank’s network and caused an estimated $220,000 in damage. Brody deleted code repositories, deleted logs, left taunts for former colleagues, and impersonated other employees. He also emailed himself proprietary code valued at over $5,000. Brody attempted to cover his tracks by filing a false police report about his company-issued laptop being stolen. He has received a 24-month prison sentence, ordered to pay restitution, and serve three years of supervised release. This incident could have been avoided if the company had implemented a more secure offboarding process, such as changing or removing login credentials when an employee leaves. It highlights the dangers of disgruntled IT staff seeking revenge after being fired.
Key Points:
1. Miklos Daniel Brody, a former cloud engineer, has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for hacking into his former employer’s network.
2. Brody was fired from First Republic bank for downloading porn onto a USB stick using the company’s computers.
3. He used a work laptop that he had not returned to log into the bank’s network and caused an estimated $220,000 in damage.
4. Brody deleted code repositories, deleted logs, left taunts for former colleagues, and impersonated other employees.
5. He also emailed himself proprietary code valued at over $5,000 and tried to cover his tracks by filing a false police report.
6. Brody has been ordered to pay restitution and serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.
7. This incident highlights the importance of implementing a secure offboarding process to prevent disgruntled employees from hacking into company systems.
8. Companies should revoke access rights immediately when an employee is no longer authorized and ensure only authorized users can access sensitive information and systems.