Business
Fannie Mae Logic Bomb
Unix engineer indicted on charges of computer sabotage for planting the malicious code after he was fired from his job.
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A computer engineer is accused of planting a logic bomb to wipe out all 4,000 servers at mortgage finance company Fannie Mae, potentially causing millions of dollars in damage and shutting down Fannie Mae for a week.
Unix engineer Rajendrasinh Babubha Makwana, 35, was indicted on charges of computer sabotage for planting the malicious code after he was fired from his job at the end of October. The virus was set to detonate at 9:00 a.m. on Jan. 31, but was discovered by another engineer. Makwana, who had worked for Fannie Mae for three years, was told he was being fired because of a scripting error he’d made earlier in the month. According to an FBI affidavit, “Despite Makwana’s termination, Makwana’s computer access was not immediately terminated,” allowing him time to enter the malicious code into the company’s computer system. |
