Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

IT Pro Gets Prison Time For Sabotaging Ex-Employer's System

Posted by Soulskill on from the fractions-of-a-penny dept.

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."

29 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. Duh... by TJ_Phazerhacki · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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!
    1. Re:Duh... by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The point at which this guy admitted he maliciously tampered with equipment, he was screwed. He should have argued that he was incompetent...

      I've seen more than one shop where some vital/important system required the personal intervention of one particular guy to get up and going again in the event that something needed to be reset/rebooted/repaired. I don't believe it was malice, just incompetence, overconfidence, understaffing or some combination that resulted in a plausibly deniable deadman switch.

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    2. Re:Duh... by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He never should have mounted an argument in the first place. He never should have spoken with authorities without his own representation, and probably not even with his own representation.

      Ignoring for a moment that his choice to act maliciously was what truly screwed him, law enforcement authorities are quite practiced at getting people to admit fault or to use language that allows the authorities to claim an admission. The only winning move is to not participate.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    3. Re:Duh... by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's the only video you need to see about this (Yes it's long but it's interesting) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

      --
      Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
    4. Re:Duh... by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Smart people do dumb things when they're upset. According to TFA, he hacked into a protected computer to create the turmoil.

      I'll bet you a dogecoin he believed he was clever enough not to leave any traces back to himself.

      Inexperienced with law enforcement methods (or perhaps the consequences/repercussions anomaly), it probably didn't occur to him what one of the first lines of inquiry would be.

      Anyone in IT that might be disgruntled?

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    5. Re:Duh... by jxander · · Score: 4, Funny

      And the next question is something like "Anyone got a $5 wrench?"

      --
      This signature is false.
    6. Re:Duh... by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you are not a criminal, present evidence to the police that you are not a criminal

      Incorrect. Present nothing. Say nothing. Do not open your mouth. Stare into space. Daydream. Meticulously mentally design a house in your mind.

      Repeat after me:

      Silence

      Silence

      Silence

    7. Re:Duh... by Jhon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Never talk to the police, ever! Lawyer or no lawyer."

      I hear this often and take issue with it. Last year, my daughter was kidnapped from our home in the middle of the night. My wife, son and I talked to high-heaven answering every question, letting them look at every thing they wanted. FBI, too.

      My goal was to let them rule us out as fast as humanly possible (which they did).

      I understand your sentiment, but those words "never" and "ever" that makes it just wrong.

      (Daughter was recovered. Monster is about to go on trial)

    8. Re:Duh... by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then you are an idiot, a fool, a liar, or some combination of them.

      Well, I guess you're mean, rash, socially awkward, or some combination of those. I was referring to the situations I'd witnessed myself that had some similarity to the situation in TFA, not TFA guy. Seeing as I was suggesting a similar situation with a possible non-criminal explanation, whereas TFA guy admitted to doing it deliberately, I didn't think it was confusing.

      Or maybe you just read my comment too quickly before posting.

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    9. Re:Duh... by KingOfBLASH · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In the last shop I worked with, on April Fool's day, when a new guy asked for a database command he was told "DROP DATABASE *;" thinking no one could be that stupid.

      Except he was. Fortunately April Fool's day that year was a friday and IT had the weekend to fix the mess

  2. Ashamed! by sentiblue · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He ruins our IT/Ops names...

    He doesn't deserve the term "Pro"

    1. Re:Ashamed! by mlts · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Four years for causing a million dollars worth of damage isn't that harsh a sentence. What would the verdict be if someone came into a facility with a cutting torch and did the same amount of physical damage? It likely would result in an arrest for some terrorism-related charge. Blanking out servers may not be as obvious as driving a semi into some core machinery, but it does the same exact thing, especially if there are no backups. The machinery may be intact, but if there is some manufacturing process that took years to develop and fine-tune, that knowledge can be lost forever.

      This guy got off lightly, and the lesson that EnerVest has learned is that they are probably going to get their next admin or admins from Tata or Infosys, and it won't be surprising to see more companies doing the same thing.

      A friend of mine had to clean up a mess (logic bombs left behind that would corrupt arrays and reset LTO tape passwords) that was similar, due to a disgruntled admin. After he cleaned up the mess and tested that backups were working on separate hardware, he was shown the door, and an offshore company hired for all IT work. The reason: "H-1Bs do not commit sabotage."

    2. Re:Ashamed! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Informative

      He ruins our IT/Ops names...

      He doesn't deserve the term "Pro"

      Right. "Pros" don't get caught!

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    3. Re:Ashamed! by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Four years for causing a million dollars worth of damage isn't that harsh a sentence.

      I might agree with you if Wall Street scammers didn't get less for causing HUNDREDS of millions in losses to their customers. And not from a one-time "flip out", but years of knowingly and systematically screwing over everyone who trusted them...

    4. Re:Ashamed! by kelemvor4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "H-1Bs do not commit sabotage."

      Absolutely, allowing foreign nationals access to your systems is COMPLETELY safe. Moreover, they don't get angry when you take away their livelihood.

    5. Re:Ashamed! by taustin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, between the equal protection clause of the 4th amendment and the cruel and unusual clause of the 8th, it isn't difficult to argue that it does, in fact, mean just that.

    6. Re:Ashamed! by careysub · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, between the equal protection clause of the 4th amendment and the cruel and unusual clause of the 8th, it isn't difficult to argue that it does, in fact, mean just that.

      Amen to that. If you have two sets of crimes ones committed by the fabulously wealthy (Wall Streeters, bankers - non one else is in the position to carry out such fraud) which do vast damage, and ones that are committed by ordinary citizens that do comparatively trivial amounts of damage, and that latter set are prosecuted far more vigorously, with much harsher punishments than the former, then we do not truly have a system of laws any longer, we have a system of (very rich) men.

      One is reminded of this: "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread." - Anatole France

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  3. He's lucky by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If he had hacked in from outside the company and done that much damage, he probably would have gotten more than 4 years.

    1. Re:He's lucky by Wintermute__ · · Score: 3, Informative

      He did. He "hacked in to a protected computer". Also:

      "Mitchell is no stranger to computer-related controversy. In high school, he was accused of planting more than 100 viruses on the school's systems, according to a report in the Charleston Gazette newspaper."

      Great choice, let's hire him!

    2. Re:He's lucky by pkinetics · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Accused is not the same as convicted.

      However in his case, he admitted to do it, but wormed his way into being allowed to finish out school. First failure of due process.

      The second failure was the court deciding to drop the matter because he had already graduated, so nothing they could do about it.

  4. He turned job termination into career termination by JoeyRox · · Score: 4, Informative

    And likely life termination as well. What a complete and utter moron.

  5. Glue his fingers together so he cant use a pc by mpicpp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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...

  6. Re:Ethics by DocSavage64109 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  7. Crappy headline by NotSanguine · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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
  8. Re:Ethics by ultranova · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why go the unethical route when it just makes you look bad?

    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.

  9. Re:And in jail.. by NotSanguine · · Score: 3, Funny

    "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...

    And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's Where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after Committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly Looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father Rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And They was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the Bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest Father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly 'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me And said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench There, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I Said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand, And we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, Father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the Bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of Things,

    --Arlo Guthrie

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
  10. Re:Ethics by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Well put.

    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

  11. Criminal damage by benjfowler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  12. But what about the other way around by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.