http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/01/fired_it_manager_rampage/

Revenge served coldly

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco * Get more from this author

Posted in Crime, 1st May 2009 21:32 GMT

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A former technology director who was fired from a regional organ
donation center in Texas has admitted to breaking into her former
employer's network and destroying more than $94,000 worth of data.

Danielle Duann, 51, of Houston admitted that in November 2005 she
illegally accessed the network of LifeGift just hours after bosses told
her she was terminated. From the evening of November 7 through the
following morning, she used a Dell laptop and her home broadband account
to delete organ donation information and account invoices. She also
nuked server logs in an attempt to cover her tracks.

The rampage is a potent reminder of the havoc disgruntled IT workers can
wreak when employers don't take the proper precautions. According to
court documents, LifeGift managers didn't disable Duann's virtual
private network account and didn't change the login credentials of other
employees, either. The failure made it possible for Duann to use her VPN
account to reach the LifeGift network, and then use an administrator
account belonging to another employee.

The damage could have been much worse were it not for the employee of an
outside company called CompuCom who was in the process of providing
backup and disaster recovery services. The employee just happened to be
on-site at LifeGift on the morning that Duann carried out her revenge.

"The CompuCom employee, who observed Duann in real time deleting files
from the LifeGift computer servers, realized the defendant was accessing
the LifeGift computer network via the 'dduann' VPN account," court
documents state. "At approximately 10:45 am on November 8, 2005, the
CompuCom employee terminated Duann's VPN connection, thereby preserving
the VPN connection logs which showed that Duann had accessed the
LifeGift computer network via her home internet connection."

Located in Houston, LifeGift is the sole provider of organ procurement
services for 200 hospitals in Texas.

Duann pleaded guilty to one felony count of computer intrusion in
connection with the crime. She has agreed to pay $94,200 in restitution.
She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 28.
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