Former System Administrator Sentenced for Wrecking Corporate Servers

Event Year: 2007 Reliability: Confirmed
Country: United States
Industry Type: General Manufacturing
Description:

A former contract systems administrator for Pratt-Read deleted files on three of the company’s servers, knocking the servers offline critically damaging operations.  The contractor, Priyavrat Patel, accessed the system from home during the Thanksgiving holidays after “having a few drinks.”  He was retaliating against the company as it was moving from Brigdeport, CT to Shelton.  Patel was fired a month before.  He intented to cause a “small hiccup” that would cause problems for a few hours, not days.  Patel deleted critical files used by the servers during boot-up.

Impact:

Knocked servers offline. Crippled operations for two weeks.  Priyavrat Patel pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, the first six months must be served in home confinement.  Patel has separately agreed to pay Pratt-Read $120,000 in restitution, but he may be ordered to pay additional fines.