A former software developer, Davis Lu, 55, has been sentenced to four years in prison after sabotaging his former employer’s network with a hidden “kill switch.” Prosecutors said Lu secretly embedded malicious code that crashed servers if his credentials were ever revoked. When the company, reportedly Eaton, terminated his employment, the code was triggered, locking out thousands of employees and halting critical operations.
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The attack inflicted hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. Investigators traced the sabotage back to Lu in part through his internet search history, which included queries on privilege escalation, hiding processes, and deleting files. The Justice Department said the case highlights the growing risks businesses face from insider threats and the need for stronger monitoring of privileged access.
