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IT Admin Trashes Railroad Company's Network Before He Leaves (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by msmash on from the stranger-things dept.

Catalin Cimpanu, writing for BleepingComputer: A federal jury in Minneapolis, Minnesota found a local man guilty of intentionally damaging his former employer's network before leaving the company. The man's name is Christopher Victor Grupe, 46, and from September 2013 until December 2015 he worked as an IT professional for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), a transcontinental railroad based in Alberta, Canada. Things went sideways in December 2015 when CPR suspended Grupe for 12 days for yelling and using inadequate language with his boss. When the man returned to work following his suspension on December 15, management told Grupe they were going to fire him for insubordination. According to court documents obtained by Bleeping Computer, Grupe asked management to resign, effective immediately. He promised to come back the following days and return company property such as his laptop, remote access device, and access badges. He did return the items, as promised, but not before taking the laptop for a last spin inside CPR's network. Court documents show Grupe accessed the company's switches and removed admin accounts, changed passwords for other admin accounts, and deleted log files. When done, Grupe wiped his laptop and returned it to CPR's Minnesota office on December 17, two days after he resigned.

11 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. What an Idiotic Company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why do you leave somsone's access privileges in place when you're in the middle of firing them?

    IMHO, they deserved what they got.

  2. And this is why you disable accesss..... by Drakonblayde · · Score: 5, Insightful

    *before* you tell someone you're going to fire them.

    1. Re: And this is why you disable accesss..... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's almost as if they were incompetent in general...

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re: And this is why you disable accesss..... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This may be problematic if you're going to fire the very person that would be performing said actions

      If you've only got one person who can do this, then you already have a very large problem.

    3. Re: And this is why you disable accesss..... by jordanjay29 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or if fellow IT members don't agree with firing them. Or they give fired employee a heads up before the meeting. "Hey Chris, they just asked me to remove your access, something's up."

      You basically need the IT head (who, if they can't be objective, can at least be counted on to be professional) in HR's office or on the phone before the fired employee leaves the room and make sure it's done.

  3. And programmer [Re:What an Idiotic Company] by XXongo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    And what an idiotic IT professional! You'd think he'd have enough sense to not leave his fingerprints all over the sabotage.

    IMHO, they deserved what they got.

    1. Re:And programmer [Re:What an Idiotic Company] by ThePhish · · Score: 1, Insightful

      How does this get modded up?

      Anyone who plans to sabotage anything like this on the way out the door deserves everything that comes to them if they get caught.

    2. Re:And programmer [Re:What an Idiotic Company] by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anyone who plans to sabotage anything like this on the way out the door deserves everything that comes to them

      Sure, the sabotage was criminal and wrong. But leaving access enabled was still stupid, especially when they knew this guy was irrational and had anger issues.

      Burglars should go to jail, but I still lock my front door.

  4. Stupidest managers ever by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "We've found you SO insubordinate that we have to FIRE you from the company. But yes, we trust you Mr NetAdmin, to take your company laptop home with you."

    Jesus. He's in trouble, but I hope for humanity's sake THEY didn't reproduce.

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:Stupidest managers ever by barc0001 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As a Canadian who is familiar with various aspects of CP Rail, yeah, they are *that* stupid. The only reason they're profitable is inertia and little competition other than CN, who also has similar intelligence problems.

  5. Re: This is why we'll never be taken seriously by Reverend+Green · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If doctors were treated as badly as IT, a lot more people with be afraid to go to the hospital.