Developer Gets Prison Time For Sabotaging Former Employer’s Network With A ‘kill Switch’

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In Brief

Posted:

7:26 AM PDT · August 22, 2025

a photograph of a reddish emergency extremity buttonImage Credits:Rapeepong Puttakumwong / Getty Images
  • Zack Whittaker

A erstwhile package developer has been sentenced to 4 years successful situation for sabotaging his erstwhile employer’s web aft leaving nan company.

Davis Lu, 55, was convicted of installing a “kill switch” connected nan network of his erstwhile employer by planting malicious codification designed to clang its servers successful nan arena that he was fired.

The termination move was activated erstwhile nan institution terminated Lu’s employment and deactivated his credentials, causing nan termination switch, “IsDLEnabledinAD” — referring to whether Lu’s relationship was still progressive successful nan company’s Active Directory. The incident locked retired thousands of labor from accessing nan company’s systems.

The Justice Department, which prosecuted nan case, said Lu’s employer, which was not named but reportedly nan powerfulness tech institution Eaton, said nan incident caused hundreds of thousands of dollars successful damage. 

Lu was discovered successful portion done his net hunt history, nan Justice Department said, which included searches researching “methods to escalate privileges, hide processes, and quickly delete files.”

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