Slashdot Mirror
IT Pro Gets Prison Time For Sabotaging Ex-Employer's System
itwbennett writes: "In June 2012, Ricky Joe Mitchell of Charleston, West Virginia, found out he was going to be fired from oil and gas company EnerVest and in response he decided to reset the company's servers to their original factory settings. He also disabled cooling equipment for EnerVest's systems and disabled a data-replication process. After pleading guilty in January, Mitchell has been sentenced to four years in federal prison."
The point at which this guy admitted he maliciously tampered with equipment, he was screwed. He should have argued that he was incompetent...
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
He ruins our IT/Ops names...
He doesn't deserve the term "Pro"
If he had hacked in from outside the company and done that much damage, he probably would have gotten more than 4 years.
And likely life termination as well. What a complete and utter moron.
Does anyone actually think this shouldn't be a crime?
I always wondered what happens if you press the "Easy Button".
Some settling may occur during posting.
I've cleaned up messes and had to do data recovery after people deleted their work, reformatted machines, etc. and then quit. I have no sympathy at all for people that do this type of stuff...
good story
I was talking to an employee who was fired, but still around for a couple of days to clean up her stuff. She asked if I had backups, because she wanted to delete all of the projects she was working on. I told her that she was paid to do that work and I doubt if other people will go through her work that much anyway. Why go the unethical route when it just makes you look bad?
I bet this guy could have just left, and assuming he was useful, the company would soon be feeling the pain anyway.
Pretty stupid on the company's part too.
Certainly gives credence to the process of removing any passed and access then ejecting the individual out the door before telling them that they are fired.
Well, yeah. It probably cost several thousand man hours to repair the damages he caused. That is real money lost fixing the mess. As well as the actual time lost for stopping business productivity of X number of employees who could no longer perform their work and sat around twiddling thumbs while the systems were down. We are talking potentially hundreds of thousands of damage.
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
uh, does destruction of property not merit prison time?
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
This guy is no professional. A professional does his job. That's what he/she is paid to do. Since this person was getting fired, I'm guessing he wasn't meeting expectations. Even if it was a broader layoff, there's no reason to act so unprofessionally.
Not sure if he deserves jail time, but there is no reason to break stuff on your way out the door. I'm glad I know this guy's name. I will certainly never hire him.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
That sort of thing tends to happen when you intentionally and maliciously fuck up someone else's shit.
The real question is, and I know I bitch about other people asking this myself, but why is this on Slashdot? He's not some IT rock star like Sergey or John, EnerVest isn't some major player in the IT world like Google or Apple, and the punishment meted out seems fairly appropriate.
Maybe the constant, mindless drone of 24-7 American media news cycles is finally starting to get to me, but this doesn't seem sensational enough to qualify as "news."
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Well, one could argue this "Pro" is now a "Con".
Sorry, couldn't resist.
the average time served for kidnapping is 52 months
I can only imagine that the average kidnapping involves a parent that lacks custody or something more mundane than what we are use to seeing on TV. The damage this guy did is likely more comparable to burning the whole building to the ground. Well... maybe that's taking it a bit far, but it serves my point.
Because humans are herd animals, and corporate politics purposefully try to reinforce this - it's what "team building" and "commitment to job" is ultimately all about. This means that getting fired tends to register at the emotional level: you are being banished from your tribe. Add any actual or perceived injustice, and revenge becomes a factor.
Modern economic system is pretty perverse, as far as human needs are concerned, so people caught in it tend to act irrationally.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
"So, what have you done to get in here?" "I just reset the system of my ex-boss, he was too stupid to recover a backup so he sued me and put me in jail"
I couldn't resist...
--Arlo Guthrie
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
Yup.
Here in Arizona:
The elements of kidnapping are (1) knowingly, (2) restraining another person, (3) with the intent, (4) to place the victim in a reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury or to seize or exercise control over a vehicle.
So, when you argue with your girlfriend, and don't unlock the car doors, and she's scared you'll Chris Brown her -- kidnapping.
And not for nothing, as the grandparent's viewpoint is a sound one... Why be unethical even if you believe you've been done dirty? Hold your head high on the way out the door saying, "I was looking for a job when I found this one." Even if you don't feel it right then, you will be right proud of yourself later on.
+ to you both.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
So, I'm assuming you wouldn't mind me burning down your house/apartment, so long as I made sure there were no people endangered by the fire?
After all, it's just destruction of property, right?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
the jail / prison has healthcare + room and board
Open-and-shut case of criminal damage.
What's amazing, is that there are still neckbeards out where who think that just because they're techies, that norms of proper human behaviour don't belong to them.
Missing the 3rd element, which is the hardest to prove or disprove.
Seriously, read the article (and then I remembered where I was) he deserved to be banged up, changing jobs voluntary or not is a nasty fact of life in this economy. If you sabotage your ex employers systems then you should expect they will hire someone who isn't so stupid and is able to detect it. Business has money, what it doesn't have is patience. During a major problem they will simply hire temporary talent that will be smarter than you because they haven't spent the last few years doing a job with no destiny and can concentrate on one thing - what you did.
This trade for want of a better world is too small to even attempt to annoy not only your ex employees but more importantly all your ex colleges. This guy is clearly an idiot who should be taken away from a keyboard. On the flip side, frankly he is probably needing a better lawyer, to do something so stupid his defence should have been more mental or stress related assuming he even had a clue.
West Virginia, Division of Corrections - Take him home, where he belongs.....
You're never seen a person be fired because the ranks of management are equally vile?
Have you never seen a manager go to jail because he deliberately fired or drove away the company's most competent employee on fabricated allegations in order to exact revenge for a perceived slight, prior to his own dismissal or resignation?
No, I didn't think so. The master retributivist of eternal liberty sabotages human systems instead.
Because humans are herd animals,
Nope, humans are pack animals, you more or less said so yourself by mentioning tribes, teams, etc.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
I didn't intend to go all Chris Brown on her?
In some states their labor laws explicitly allow companies to make you work 2 weeks straight without a day off as long as they give you 1 day off before and after the 2 week shift. Been through that - and it's criminal in my mind - but legal. Companies have the money and power to do whatever they want and can get away with it. There are lots of things companies do and can get away with because they can payoff people to make things happen for them. Yet you rarely see company executives go to prison for some of the stuff they do.
The Truth is a Virus!!!
I was talking to an employee who was fired, but still around for a couple of days to clean up her stuff. She asked if I had backups, because she wanted to delete all of the projects she was working on. I told her that she was paid to do that work and I doubt if other people will go through her work that much anyway. Why go the unethical route when it just makes you look bad?
I bet this guy could have just left, and assuming he was useful, the company would soon be feeling the pain anyway.
The sad thing is that the people who think like this don't seem to be aware that this flaw in their character is probably why they got fired in the first place.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
Please explain the difference between "herd" and "pack" and why it is relevant for this discussion?
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Well, they did use the word "fired", which to me means "for cause". I've never been anywhere that would _fire_ a person and let them walk back to their desk and keep working. Layoff's and "down sizing", maybe, but even there care must be taken to avoid letting a pissed (now or soon to be) ex-employee back where they could make a mess.
Concrete room
Healthcare from the 19th century
Board from Oliver Twist.
Please explain the difference between "herd" and "pack"
In my mind I equate "herd" with sheep or cattle, as opposed to a "pack" of wolves.
I'm not exactly sure why this is really a news thing. It took up two lines of text, and was about a guy who did something malicious, on purpose, was caught and pleaded guilty. Let's replace IT Pro with some other profession...with say a teacher. They know they're being let go, so they dip all the keys and answer sheets in ink, rendering them useless and remove covers from textbooks. They get caught / found out, admit they did it, they go to jail.
I just don't get why this is really news-worthy.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
He went in and did as much damage as he could, in a sort of drive your semi through the front door kind of way, failed to cover his tracks, got caught, confessed, and is doing 4 years hard time. Better that he walked away with his head held high and never looked back.
He should have followed best practices:
1. Be patient. Wait. Wait at least a year. In that time they will have let any number of people go, and you won't be the go-to suspect.
2. Plan ahead. Make sure there are a few well concealed back doors into their systems. A few ex-employees who didn't have their accounts deleted, maybe a vendor login. Write down the details, don't email them to yourself.
3. When you are officially fired, step away from your computer. Insist that someone disable all your accounts and access privileges. Have witnesses.
4. When it's time to strike, don't use your home computer and don't use your laptop at the closest starbucks. Bounce everything through TOR and a couple of VPNs. Don't short the stock first. Excessive paranoia is the key.
5. Lay your groundwork carefully. Make sure ALL the backups are corrupted first. Plan your logic bomb so it deletes all traces of itself. Your attack payload should ideally wipe every server and every workstation like you hit them with DBAN.
6. Trigger your logic bomb, log out, and never ever ever log back in again.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
Incorrect. Present nothing. Say nothing. Do not open your mouth. Stare into space. Daydream.
Good advice. Changes nothing.
When the geek has a run in with the law no power on earth can persuade him to shut up.
"Herd" animals have eyes on the side of their heads, because they're prey. "Pack" animals have eyes facing forward, because they're predators.
Don't take it personally. Most employees can do a lot of damage, and IT is essentially the records and archival department for companies. You have to REALLY trust someone to let them go on their own recognizance.
However, most people *DO* take it personally when they're escorted out, and it's emotional, but a lot of people don't let logic rule. A business must protect itself, and there is a lot of history behind it. For management not to do this and immediately take away system privileges, is negligent at best.
Advice to employees: Stay calm. If you are terminated, laid off, fired (or quit), be calm about it. You do want another job, right? How's it going to sound when you are known for threatening to sue your ex-employers for frivolous reasons? Or you're the one that trashed all of a companies systems in a temper-tantrum?
Slashdotters: Why are you defending Ricky Joe Mitchell? He should be made out to be an example of what not to do. People like him make businesses take even more drastic measures on severance, and rightfully so. If Mitchell had a legitimate grievance, he should have pursued it in an adult-like fashion, with HR, and if it was really that bad, through legal channels. It's shocking that half the posts on here seem to be "Well here's what he should've done to protect himself AFTER damaging all those systems," not "Wow that was stupid, and we should ostracize him immediately."
The police just want to catch *someone*. There are thousands of accounts of innocent people who call the police to respond to a crime, but end up as the target of police accusations -- either because they look funny, or the cop is having a bad day, or they have a previous arrest from when they were eighteen years old and stupid, or your next door neighbor smokes pot and they smell it on your doorstep. The police have no obligation or duty to protect you according to the US Supreme Court, and every incentive to put people in jail.
Turning over some photos or giving a written witness statement? Probably fine. Testifying against someone in court? You have the oversight of a judge and jury, sure. Talking to police in private? Trip over your words, and you'll be charged with "making false statements" and have no witnesses to keep you out of jail.
I took it that "found he was being fired" was without the company's knowledge, as in using his admin privileges to look at email, etc.
But I agree with another comment. As still being an employee, I doubt he "tapped into a protected compauter" from the outside, and doubt that he actually didn't have authority to the computer. What does "tapped into" mean anyway? Probably an unauthorized login to format the drive, which I think the buzzphrase "reset to factory settings" means. He could have done an OS install I guess but I doubt it.
Do you see a difference?
Yes. He did his actions in blind rage at the spur of the moment. They did their actions with cold calculation, over years, despite numerous and various warnings against their actions.
Hmm, the humour and sarcasm seem to have been be lost on you.
What about when businesses do things like wreck people's lives through baseless lawsuits, blacklist people, baseless DMCA takedowns, etc? I don't see any 4 year sentences for those actions.
This seems to be another example of where some individual does wrong and the system comes down on him. But when corporate/government types do wrong the system comes to their defence.
I assume if he had worked somewhere else in the company, and had decided to make his parting gift something like filling gas tanks with concrete, he would have done some prison time too. No reason screwing with computer systems should be any different.
Sensationalism.
No doubt he reset everything back to factor defaults. His reasoning was likely that he was going to take his work with him when he left (configured their systems) and they could find someone else to do it for them. I have zero doubt that his "hacking" actually involved him just using his admin user account and password just prior to getting fired to do the things involved. No "hacking" involved other than it was used for somewhat nefarious purposes.
I was accused of loading a "virus" onto my high schools computer network once upon a time. The reality was I encrypted a personal disk, the guy sitting next to me tried to do the same thing and inadvertently encrypted his entire computer, and due to the way that particular computer lab had been setup, taking that computer off the network caused it to go down. I got suspended, and had to "fix" their network (basically doing a clean install on the machine in question). Not only did I not actually do anything with viruses, I didn't actually do anything myself (other than be poorly copied). However that didn't stop me from being suspended, nor did it stop the people from saying things that were untrue.
I worked in a factory some years ago. One day we came into work to discover all 120 or so of us would be made redundant in the next few weeks. A few days later management pulled us all up for a meeting. They were clearly furious about something. Turns out someone left a steaming big crap in the changing room shower the previous day, and they actually wanted to know who did it. You try keeping a straight face. The cleaners weren't paid enough to clean that shit up (literally and figuratively), and we couldn't care less if they fired us for refusing to clean it up. I don't even think the accountants let these guys spend a few hundred dollars on a hasmat cleanup by that stage. Who did it? No one knows, no one cares, and even if everyone else did know we certainly weren't going to tell those knuckleheads. There is great pleasure to be had in seeing the humiliation caused by such a symbolic act of defiance.
Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
You can walk away for any reason and they can let you go for almost any reason. Being fired/laid off is a bitter pill... but impulse control keeps you out of jail. And it's the other side of being able to walk away at any time.
Excellent advice! Check out the racial disparity in outcomes of "zero tolerance" school policies, a.k.a. the school-to-prison pipeline. Students of color who commit the exact same infractions of discipline as white students are disproportionately punished starting in pre-school.
A team mate of mine and I were recently let go from a company. It took everything we had to convince the IT manager NOT to just have our computers formatted when we left. He didn't want to do any back ups, to have anyone go through the files, nothing. Of course, he was actively sabatoging the system so that he could expand his position by bringing in a new system and "needing" all of the software to be rewritten from scratch because the old system "failed" and "couldn't be recovered".
1. I don't like or condone theft, vandalism or destruction of company property under just about every circumstances. The only thing I could think of that I might say it's acceptable if they were committing atrocities like mass killings and other capital offenses. They guy was being fired so as soon as the company decided to fire this guy they should have implemented security measures right there. As for the Idiot facing 4 years in the federal joint? Well I don't feel sorry for his stupid arse. He should have kept his mouth shut and not admitted to anything. He should have gotten a lawyer or at least got a lawyer that would have done his job. Maybe the 4 years was part of the plea deal. I think it's probably an appropriate punishment. He probably effectively shutdown this company until they had a chance to restore all their systems, I hope he didn't destroy the backup catalogs and backup images because if he did then I would say give him life....
Paul E. Bahre