A Dev Built a Kill Switch That Activated When He Got Fired. Now He’s Convicted of Criminal Sabotage

We all, at some point, have fantasized about giving our employers a big middle finger on the way out the door, whether we leave on our own volition or are pushed out. Well, a 55-year-old Texas man allegedly built an automated bird flipper in the form of a kill switch that crashed his company’s systems and locked people out of their accounts when he was fired. Satisfying as that may have been, he now faces up to 10 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice, for setting the trip wire on his way out the door. Here’s the situation: Houston, Texas resident Davis Lu started working for a company headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio back in November 2007. (The DOJ didn’t identify the firm, but a local report from Cleveland.com indicated that it is power management company Eaton Corporation.) After about 10 years on the job, Eaton underwent a 2018 “corporate realignment,” and Lu had his role downsized, seeing his responsibilities and system access reduced, per the DOJ’s account of t ... Read full article.