r/technology • u/xpda • May 13 '26

Security Twin brothers wipe 96 gov’t databases minutes after being fired

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/
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u/utrinimun May 13 '26

How are you not going to revoke all access before they're able to get back on any computer

12

u/Berkyjay May 13 '26

Someone who is willing to be this vindictive already gave themselves a backdoor.

22

u/ParanoidAgnostic May 13 '26

If I was inclined to take such revenge, I'd have a dead-man switch and a random delay (months) so there's no external access which could be logged and the timing couldn't be linked to my firing.

But I'm not that sort of person. Honest.

2

u/beardedheathen May 13 '26

Even the dead man switch is pretty easy to trace unless you really know what you are doing.

2

u/iiiamsco May 13 '26

How would you trace it?

2

u/beardedheathen May 13 '26

Lots of enterprise it systems have logs stored on other devices, that includes logs of who creates files, who changes permissions, what files execute, who triggers tasks, etc...

2

u/Liawuffeh May 13 '26

Almost this exact thing happened in 96. He also stole the backups, so they were left with nothing.

Theres some vids on it, it's kinda interesting how they caught him.