Disgruntled employee costs company £488K in revenge attack
By Chris Taylor
18/08/2011
An employee of a pharmaceutical giant caused disruptions worth £488,000 after he wreaked havoc with company servers following his dismissal.
Jason Cornish, an IT administrator from Smyrna, Georgia, deleted 15 virtual hosts of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi after his contract was terminated in a round of cost cutting.
A further 88 virtual servers were taken down as a result of the attack which paralysed company operations for days.
According to Computer Weekly, Cornish accessed the firm's computing system via a public Wi-Fi hotspot using his old administration credentials.
The case highlights the need for thorough employee systems management software to prevent infiltration from ex-workers says one security expert.
"Businesses need to be reminded of the importance of reviewing what users have access to your systems," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos in a Softpedia.com report.
"Changing passwords and resetting access rights is essential when a member of your staff leaves your employment.
"People do, of course, leave jobs all the time and most of them would never dream of logging back in to their old place of work. But it only takes one bad apple to wreak havoc - so make sure your defences are in place, and that only authorised users can access your sensitive systems," Cluley added in a blog post.
