Ex-IT Consultant Shreds Government System

Getting drunk after a bad romance has happened to a lot of us. What we don’t do is try and “fix” the government’s IT system, like one Australian did.

David Anthony McIntosh was hitting the booze heavily after his fiancee had called off their engagement. Not knowing which way to turn, he decided on the idea of showing the government how insecure its network was. One month after he resigned from his job as an IT consultant, he logged onto the government’s server through his roommates account, and proceeded to show them.

The police finally caught up with him, but not before he’d deleted 10,475 employee accounts ranging across the whole of the health department, hospital, prison, and Supreme Court.

While he sits in jail, 130 experts have spent 5 days and over AUS $1.2 million restoring the system. McIntosh has pleaded guilty to the twelve charges against him.

“I’m disgusted with myself for what I did,” he wrote in a letter to the court. “I did not for a second think I would end up in jail.”

McIntosh will be going back to training to be a chef after he finishes his incarceration.

Source: Northern Territory News via The Register
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