Systems Admin Jailed After Hacking Ex-Employer

Following the reports emerged that a disgruntled employee had hacked the control systems of his ex-employer a paper factory, causing over a million dollars in damage. Reacting to the news, Morena Carullo, Co-Founder and CTO at Nozomi Networks commented below.

Morena Carullo, Co-Founder and CTO at Nozomi Networks:

“This is not the first time we’ve seen malicious damage caused by a disgruntled ex-employee. What it highlights is the very serious implications when basic cyber security practices are ignored. Every organisation needs to implement simple security policies capable of locking out and controlling user access, combined with central VPN management, to prevent instances of intentional destruction but also naive mistakes. Revoking user credentials, and changing passwords, has to be considered when any employee’s position is terminated, especially when that person had held system admin privileges.

“In addition, and as was the case with this paper factory, Mr Johnson had been allowed to continue accessing and altering systems so the obvious damage inflicted could be the tip of a very deep iceberg. The ability to actively monitor for anomalies that detract from predicted or ‘expected’ behaviour may have aroused suspicion before he was able to unleash his wrath, but it would also provide the intelligence to piece together his activity and help understand what else may have been manipulated or changed to make sure there aren’t nasty surprises further down the track.”