Pink-slipped sysadmin admits to threatening ex-employer's network

Bah!

I call for the maximum sentence. This madness must stop. Fine the bugger til he bleeds, then bang him up for a few years. Then, if he's a foreign national, repatriation to the mother country. That should put the fear of God into the rest of these so-called "Admins".

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.

Excellent references!

"excellent references should be provided for anybody contacting you regarding my employment."

I think a residential address of "Cell 1, Block H, State Prison" will not require much help to make the point to prospective employers..

Also the only correct response to blackmail IMHO.

Sticks and stones words will get you 5 years

1/4 of a million, imprisonment for making some threats to attack a few electrons?

No one got hurt not a scratch, no computers accessed in an unauthorized manner.

People threaten to kill people don't they and nothing happens, bizarre.

That aside, people have to wise up in IT, don't become too attached to anyone else's system, don't think you are joining a 'team', just get the cash (gold coins) paid on delivery of work at the end of the day or the week, offer no credit terms, sign nothing. Whilst offshoring occurs, offshore your tax liability.

IT needs to become the most awkward copper nicker wearing profession on the planet.

The risks are huge for a McJob here, 5 years imprisonment and 250 grand, what do you get for adding the special sauce in a burger; hanging?

@ Sticks and stones...

There's nothing bizarre about breaking extortion laws, getting caught at it, and winding up in the slammer. It doesn't have much to do with IT except the fellow's former job placement and the means with which a threat of damage would be carried out.

re: Sticks and stones

"1/4 of a million, imprisonment for making some threats to attack a few electrons?"

Actually, no. He threatened to attack a corporation in a non-tangible manner. Destroying a company by destroying their computers and equipment is not attacking "a few electrons". The financial collapse of the $15 billion they manage would not be attacking "a few electrons". Let's ask MCI Worldcom and Enron if their accounting frauds were just about "a few electrons" or whether they had real-world impacts.

"People threaten to kill people don't they and nothing happens, bizarre."

Actually, no, that is incorrect also. Threatening to kill someone is most definitely against the law. Just because someone decides to not press charges does not mean it's not a crime. Assault is also a crime, but the police will rarely do anything unless the assaulted person wants to press charges.

In this case, the company did the right thing. I just hope they are also smart enough to make sure all passwords the ex-employees had access to have been changed (and I do mean ALL passwords -- firewalls, routers, servers, remote administration, software, email, websites, accounts at external websites, etc, including passwords of all users the ex-employees may have had access to); the same goes for physical locks. Requiring a massive password change is very inconvenient and can be costly, but the alternative can be much more inconvenient and much, much more costly.

Failsafe

While working in yor company I placed a failsafe into your system.

Its purpose is to prevent unauthorised hijacking of the admin level passwords.

This will require me to access the system once per month to refresh the authorising key.

A wise man would decide to treat me kindly while this procedure continues to execute.

Restitution for what ?

Or was that just the attorneys fees charged for receiving the letter and turning it over to the police ? ( thieving lawyer icon still not available)

For it to be extortion

you have to obtain the money or services unlawfully.

In this instance it was just a threat of sending his pet fairies to attack the mythical firewall, bizarre five years for spouting a load of hokum.

but shurley, he shuld have....

mutual fund, worth more than $15bn

Should have treatened real damage to the company, like revealing how much the fund is actually worth....

@AC 8:24 am

Is there anywhere outside US jurisdiction?

You don't tell them their firewall is cheap one that is easy to break. You send them a message from inside the firewall via the backdoor you set up long ago.