- A software developer sabotaged his employer after being degraded
- Davis Lu created a “switch kill” that would block all users
- He was sentenced to four years in prison and additional three years of supervised license
An unhappy worker has been sentenced to four years in prison after installing “Kill Switch” malware on his employer’s network, which was triggered if he ever lost access to the network.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), a Chinese national named Davis Lu was working for an unidentified software company between November 2007 and October 2019. In 2018, it was degraded and lost access to the system, after which “he began sabotaging his employer’s systems.” In early August 2019, he introduced malware that blocked the systems and prevented other users from starting session.
The Court’s documents also revealed that he created “infinite loops” that blocked the servers, eliminated the workmakers of co -workers and finally built a “murder switch” that would block all users if their access to Active Directory was revoked. At the beginning of September 2019 he was asked to deliver his laptop, after which the death switch was activated.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage
The researchers found a lot of incriminating evidence on that laptop, including the day he delivered their device, removed the encrypted data.
An analysis of his search history showed that he was looking for ways to intensify privileges, hide processes and quickly eliminate files. Finally, the Kill Switch code was called Isdlenabledinad, abbreviation of “is Davis Lu enabled in Active Directory.”
A month after the malware ran, Lu was arrested and then was tried in front of the jury.
During the trial, it was shown that the LU employer suffered “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in losses, as a direct consequence of his shares. Now, Lu will spend four years in prison, with three additional years of supervised release.
“The FBI works relentlessly every day to ensure that cyber actors who display malicious code and harm US companies face the consequences of their actions,” said assistant director Brett Leatherman of the FBI cyber division.
“I am proud of the work of the FBI cyber team that led to today’s sentence and I hope you send a strong message to others that can consider participating in similar illegal activities. This case also underlines the importance of identifying the internal threats early and highlights the need for a proactive commitment to its local field office to mitigate risks and avoid more damage.”
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