Disgruntled Employee Takes Out Company's E-Mail
Steven Barnes has been arrested and sentenced to one year in prison after pleading guilty to hacking an Exchange Server run by his former employer, Akimbo Systems. Barnes claims that he hacked into the system in retaliation for being fired in 2003 at the hands of a group of baseball-bat-wielding thugs. He testified that several Akimbo reps showed up on his door step and confiscated both his work and personal PCs.
Months later, Barnes discovered that some login information he had for the company was still valid and that the company had no security features in place to prevent him from taking over the company's e-mail server. Rather than leave well enough alone, the disgruntled employee turned the computer into an open relay server capable of sending large amounts of spam, deleted the companies Exchange database, and damaged critical operating system components so that the machine would crash when rebooted.
Akimbo said that it was unable to send, receive, or access e-mails and was blacklisted by several spam blocking services. Barnes, in addition to spending a year in prison, will have to pay $54,000 in restitution and will serve three years on probation. [From: Ars Technica]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
LiqwidZero said 4:43PM on 11-05-2008
You know, he could've just set the building on fire.
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ryan said 12:29AM on 12-02-2008
The best revenge Is to suceed In something else helps don't get angry get happy, employers do this more these days wrongfully terminanting employees & they get away with It. But this crooked employer got what they deserved all though the former employee had to pay the price because of the employers actions. Its time these crooked employers pricks quit treating & lying & wrongfully firing employees for no reason. It always comes back to haunt the employer later yet some employers get away with these abuse, because the unemployment office always believes the employers.
LoachDriver said 7:24PM on 11-05-2008
If he was treated in anything nearly like the manner he says he was, he had good reason to be angry, but he should have considered some other way to express that anger. He should have realized his retaliation was disproportionate to his injury and would cause him legal problems. In the pokey he doubtlessly had the time to mull over his mistake and probably to dream up fresh scemes for revenge.
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Randall said 7:50PM on 11-05-2008
LiqwidZero:
I'm guessing here, maybe he thought of that originally, but then thought that would've been too easy.
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Wes said 6:25AM on 11-06-2008
I wonder if he got to keep his stapler......
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HERB FOREST said 6:56AM on 11-06-2008
TOO BAD HE GOT CAUGHT. HE SHOULD HAVE BURNT THE PLACE TO THE GROUND. THATS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WORK FOR PRICKS.
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betty said 7:30AM on 11-06-2008
There are safer ways to get revenge... Revenge is sweeter if you can get GREAT revenge and NOT be found out.
For Ex. Subscribe him to EVERYTHING!! From BlueBoy Magazine/Hustler, etc. GET someone else to print in the name and address on those free postcards. (so yours can't be recognized)
If you seek revenge against a male, (straight guy) Get someone to visit the Gay Bars and write in the name and phone # on the back of bathroom doors. lol OR annomyously have this persons profile smacked online dating sites...
DO NOT KEY CARS/MAKE PHONE CALLS>... You most always get caught
You could find some God forsaken place (MAKING SURE THERE ARE NO CAMERAS) with a phone booth... a phone booth no one ever goes to....like a place closed for the season..etc... dial the persons number and leave the phone off the hook..(tying up their line... works with home phones)
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Susan said 10:15AM on 11-08-2008
Betty-you sound like a pro..It's almost a little scary..Don't forget to catch a flight out or drive somewhere so when you postmark your subscriptions, they have an out of town stamp. LOL
Personally the best revenge for me is to succeed. Nothing gives more satisfication (for revenge) then the "This is what you missed out on" or " Whose laughing now" moment on their faces...
Rosemarie said 12:28PM on 11-08-2008
Betty, fyew, YOU'RE likely to end up in jail one of these days! Everything you described is harrassement - in some cases, at a felony level.
Besides, calling someone and not hanging up will only tie up their home phone for several seconds. The phone co. long ago figured out how to get their system to fix things like a one-sided hang-up.
Kate Thompson said 8:49PM on 11-08-2008
Oh Betty, Betty, Betty! What you want to do is, find the CEO's car. Place limburger on his intake manifold. Add some sardines if you like. The smell is forever. Or if you really want to get ugly, sneak up and loosen all his lug nuts. Do it right and the car will go about ten feet before all the wheels fall off! Back in the olden daze, before unleaded gas, you could just put a ping-pong ball into the gas tank. No one ever figures that one out and it's a long-lasting wildly enjoyable puzzle which can only be solved once someone finally decides to remove the tank.
Or if you are good at photoshop the possibilities are endless, beginning with the truly nasty ones you could send to his wife (or boyfriend, as the case may be).
If he's married sign his wife up for Weight Watchers, with his compliments.
Oh, the humanity! And to think I'm just getting warmed up . . . good thing I outgrew that kind of behavior during the Carter administration!
E.V. said 7:23AM on 11-06-2008
Just think what would've happened if they took his RED Stapler!!!!
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Patrick said 7:31AM on 11-06-2008
If those bastards showed up at my home with baseball bats I would have released my 2 German Shepherds Rocky and Cujo on them to rip them all a new one or two. They got what they deserve. He should not go to jail
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2020 Vision said 8:56AM on 11-06-2008
I would have met THEM at my door with Mr. Mossberg - with the LED spotter light mounted on the top of the barrel, a trigger switch, and a full load of 7 cartridges.............baseball bats indeed........
Self Preservation said 11:37AM on 11-06-2008
If anyone came to my door wielding baseball bats I certainly would not open my door.
I would first get my Savage/Stevens 12 gauge, load up the magazine with 00 buck shot shells and call the Police. If the Police did not arrive to arrest them before they broke in, I would not hesitate to take them out. I would only pull the trigger after they broke in.
Ginger said 9:02AM on 11-06-2008
sounds like somebody's short on brain cells
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s. perry said 9:04AM on 11-06-2008
Dude! What the ?
You need to unload that stuff!
Just release it to the Universe and move on already!!
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BeenThere said 9:04AM on 11-06-2008
How about when the Company tries to steal yours?? I was terminated after 8 years of running the daily operations of a company by a new, non-American, 21 year old owner who, between the time I walked out of the office and the time I walked into my home (2 miles away) hacked into and attempted to take over the email account I had created and paid for out of my own pocket for the entire 8 years. Because the previous owner was totally computer illiterate but needed email capability and someone that could monitor it for him. I immediately reported the breach to my server, got the account restored to my name and, 6 months later, I'm still getting emails from clients who go to the company web site which still has my email address as the company address. All this after I offered to set up a new account for them, or, in the alternative, notify anyone that emailed me what the new company email was for a period of one month.
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r bearfield said 9:14AM on 11-06-2008
should've done it from a library.
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Paula said 10:44AM on 11-06-2008
For those of you people who work in a box space office out in the open have no privacy whatsoever. The workers can hear your personal conversation unless you use computer. Nowadays we cant use computer for personal because they will monitor our conversations. What's next? Scanning our body to see if we brought any personal letters, cell phone, and some other things. This is really ridiculous!
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star said 9:40AM on 11-06-2008
what if anything was done about the confiscation of personal property and the force used in the termination by the company?
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