A Texas-based software developer named Davis Lu pulled off some criminal mastermind kind of shit. He was a frustrated employee at a big power company called Eaton Corp — and when the company underwent a “corporate realignment” in 2018, leading to a reduction in his role, he knew a layoff was on the horizon. As a form of payback, Lu set up a kill switch, or Deadman’s trigger. If he were ever fired, the kill switch would trigger, plunging the company into chaos.
Lu spent the next year designing a couple of devious bits of code. One was designed to log employees out of their computers and delete their files. That was the ammo. For the trigger, Lu designed some code he called “IsDLEnabledinAD,” which means “Is Davis Lu Enabled in Active Directory.”
It’s not a subtle name, nor a smart one, but it accurately describes what it does. As long as Lu’s name had a “yes” next to it in the company’s directory, meaning he was still employed, the code would remain inert. If he were fired and his status flipped from “yes” to “no,” the kill switch would trigger.
On September 9, 2019, Lu was laid off. The “yes” became “no,” setting off the kill switch and, just as he planned, chaos ensued.
Employees across the company were locked out of their systems and had their files deleted. Eaton Corp was instantly plunged into a panic. An investigation into the incident quickly led to Lu because he might as well have written his full name, address, Social Security number, and fingerprints into the malicious code. His company laptop search history was filled with research on how to pull off his plan.
Eaton says Lu’s sabotage led to financial losses estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lu’s attorney, however, says it was closer to $5,000 in damage. The disgruntled developer is now facing up to 10 years in prison.
A lot of us dream of quitting our shitty jobs in spectacular ways that leave an imprint on the dickheads who made us miserable. Few of us actually take the time to craft a digital bomb that plunges the company into chaos…and results in legal action. Now that’s dedication.
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