Fired IT Guy's Revenge: A $862K Cyberattack

A former contractor at Waste Management has admitted to hacking the company's network and resetting thousands of employee passwords, leaving workers across the US locked out of their systems, in retaliation for his firing. Maxwell Schultz, 35, of Ohio parted ways with the company in May 2021 for unclear reasons, per Chron.com. He then used another contractor's login credentials to access Waste Management's network, where he ran a command that reset some 2,500 passwords. He also cleared several system logs. The company lost more than $862,000 through "employee downtime, customer-service disruptions and labor needed to restore the network," according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas.

But Waste Management could have the last laugh. Schultz—who pleaded guilty to computer fraud, admitting he carried out the cyberattack because he was "upset about being fired"—now faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the Attorney's Office. He's due to be sentenced Jan. 30. Cybersecurity experts warn that "insider threats" like this one are on the rise, particularly in industries where contractors have significant system access.