Angry Employee Deletes All of Company's Data

[Rhino]

Angry Employee Deletes All of Company's Data
Thursday, January 24, 2008

Call it a tale of revenge gone wrong.

When Marie Lupe Cooley...saw a help-wanted ad in the newspaper for a position that looked suspiciously like her current job — and with her boss's phone number listed — she assumed she was about to be fired.

So, police say, she went to the architectural office where she works...and erased 7 years' worth of drawings and blueprints....

...As for the job, Cooley originally wasn't in danger of losing it. The ad was for Hutchins' wife's company....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,325285,00.html

[Wyatt_Junker]

So, police say, she went to the architectural office where she works late Sunday night and erased 7 years' worth of drawings and blueprints, estimated to be worth $2.5 million.



What gives employees the idea they have a right to a job in the first place?

I mean, besides democrats.

[Lubbock]

Surely all of that data was backed up.

Come on!

What business entity that uses a computer --even for the most mundane function, doesn't back up their data?

[Rhino]

She was the systems person, and had access to all the data, including backups.

[Air Force Guy]

It had to be backed up. 7 years of data? C'mon...there aren't a whole lot of PCs or servers that don't have some kind of hard drive failures after even 5 years. 7 years with no backup is a disaster begging to happen.

This has to be just another news-starved editor trying to hype an incident.

[Rhino]

Well, maybe not...

Employee accused of sabotage in office

With five employees and a help-wanted ad for an administrative assistant, one worker figured she was getting the boot.

So when the owner of Steven E. Hutchins Architects arrived at his Jacksonville business Monday on Philips Highway, he found the computers had been tampered with and seven years' worth of electronic architectural drawings deleted, according to a Sheriff's Office report. They were valued at $2.5 million.

Steven Hutchins called his alarm company, which told him someone had entered the business about 11 p.m. Sunday, disarmed the alarm and remained there about four hours. There were no signs of forced entry and the alarm was reset about 3 a.m.

Hutchins told police he suspected his administrative assistant of sabotage because she had become paranoid that a job vacancy ad was meant to replace her.

On Friday, the day the ad was published, she called in sick. On Saturday she contacted Hutchins' wife, who placed the ad seeking an assistant for her business, the police report said. But Hutchins' business e-mail was on the bottom of the ad. His wife attempted to persuade her that the job listing was not for her position.

Police went to the assistant's home and arrested her after questioning. Marie Lupe Cooley, 41, was charged with damage in excess of $1,000 to computers, equipment, supplies and the network.http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012308/met_239063826.shtml

Companies that small sometimes don't have backups. But the other article did say she was the only one who had access to all the data.

[Rhino]

And a company that small very likely doesn't have a server either. Assuming that's the case, PC backups would be the likely possibility. Aside from the fact that PC backups haven't had really widespread use until recent years, those backups are extremely easy to erase.

[Air Force Guy]

And a company that small very likely doesn't have a server either. Assuming that's the case, PC backups would be the likely possibility. Aside from the fact that PC backups haven't had really widespread use until recent years, those backups are extremely easy to erase.That would be a heavy case of sabotage. Throw the book (and kitchen sink) at her.

I still doubt, lacking a server (which could be as simple as an upscale PC), that the data wasn't backed up to some degree.

[Rhino]

I'm sure it probably was, in some way. I'm also sure she deleted those backups.

[ThomasMore]

I can only imagine the tremendous damage the woman did.

I might be going out of business, but I would sue her for every penny, and prosecute her criminally.

And no, she is not getting a reference.

[Lubbock]

Well, maybe not...

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/012308/met_239063826.shtml

Companies that small sometimes don't have backups.

We --my boss and I, are a smaller "company" than the one in the article that has been harmed, and I assure you, we have a back up that is second to none. We simply can not afford to lose our data and documents. It would sink us.

But the other article did say she was the only one who had access to all the data.

And right there was this company's first BIG mistake.

Oversight. A business should always have oversight.

[Eagle1]

just bust out the old paper copies and CAD them again
would suck for whoever pulls the duty, but there you are

[Rhino]

I said "sometimes", and actually it's quite common. I do IT for a living, and the majority of small companies I've seen have no such backups in place. And the majority of those that do could easily lose all of them to an employee who had access to them, as was the case here. If your small company has such a plan, uses off site storage, and no one has access to all the data, then you are in the minority for small companies. I agree it's tragic, and needlessly dangerous, but it's true.

[ColonialMarine0431]

...the company was able to recover the lost files and return to business as usual.

SOURCE (http://www.news4jax.com/news/15121838/detail.html)

Ya' think she'll have trouble finding work in the Jacksonville, FL. area now? :punish:

[Rhino]

Cool!

[Venus de Smilo]

I hope she's denied unemployment benefits and ends up on the streets, at least for awhile. "On the streets" is what she intended for her employer, after all.

What a dumb, despicable human being she is.

[DoctorDoom]

Lesson for those who think that deleting files erases them: unless a shredder is used, the data is still on the drive(s) and can be recovered. I have programs that would do it. And there are companies that specialize in data recovery, even on reformatted drives.

The only certain way to delete files permanently, beyond even the best forensics software, is via a DOD-spec shredder program (http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/security/fwerase.html) that renders the data unrecoverable. Or literally destroying the hard drives or storage media.

[Taylor1]

It had to be backed up. 7 years of data? C'mon...there aren't a whole lot of PCs or servers that don't have some kind of hard drive failures after even 5 years. 7 years with no backup is a disaster begging to happen.

This has to be just another news-starved editor trying to hype an incident.

Well exactly and yeah, its probably media related, this company is almost just as stupid for not having back-ups!

[Venus de Smilo]

Lesson for those who think that deleting files erases them: unless a shredder is used, the data is still on the drive(s) and can be recovered. I have programs that would do it. And there are companies that specialize in data recovery, even on reformatted drives.

The only certain way to delete files permanently is via a DOD-spec shredder program that renders the data unrecoverable. Or literally destroying the hard drives or storage media.
Couldn't you just download the stuff you want to keep to disks and then change out the hard drive?

[Taylor1]

Couldn't you just download the stuff you want to keep to disks and then change out the hard drive?

Well, if you keep the harddrive or whatever you recover the things off of even if you have deleted it, you can get it back I've got a program too if you need it.

[DoctorDoom]

Couldn't you just download the stuff you want to keep to disks and then change out the hard drive?Yep, if youi want to go through all that expense (cost of a new drive), time and trouble. And unless the removed drive is erased or destroyed, the data will remain on it. There are freeware shredders at the link above that can wipe out files beyond recovery.

However, unless one is engaged in security operations or illegal activity, there's little need for DOD/Gutmann shredding.

[Lubbock]

When your hard drive craps out on you, it's sure nice to just go out and buy a new tower and have your IT guy get you up and running in about an hour. That happened to us about three months ago. Had we not been backed up, I would have lost billing, bank accounts and every document and letter that has gone out of the firm for . . . for . . . well, since Brooklyn was a forest, I guess. And we have an IT guy who is second to none.

I am surprised to learn that there are individuals as well as companies --large or small, that don't have every last scrap in data backed up.

Another thing that my boss was smart enough to do years ago is not have the "main" computer --documents, billing and bank accounts, hooked up to the internet.

Because of virus, etc., the computer that is internet connected is where we receive e-mail, and that computer doesn't have anything on it that is vital to day-to-day business.

[Air Force Guy]

Yep, if youi want to go through all that expense (cost of a new drive), time and trouble. And unless the removed drive is erased or destroyed, the data will remain on it. There are freeware shredders at the link above that can wipe out files beyond recovery.

However, unless one is engaged in security operations or illegal activity, there's little need for DOD/Gutmann shredding.Privacy Act and client/attorney stuff always requires DoD-style security...at least where I work.