Fired techie admits sabotaging ex-employer, causing $862K in damage

An Ohio IT contractor has pleaded guilty to breaking into his former employer's systems and causing nearly $1 million worth of damage after being fired.

Maxwell Schultz, 35, impersonated another contractor to gain access to the company's network after his credentials were revoked.

Announcing the news, US attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei did not specify the company in question, which is typical in these malicious insider cases, although local media reported it to be Houston-based Waste Management. The Register contacted Waste Management for clarity, but it did not respond.

The attack took place on May 14, 2021, and saw Schultz use the credentials to reset approximately 2,500 passwords at the affected organization.

This meant thousands of employees and contractors across the US were unable to access the company network.

Schultz admitted to running a PowerShell script to reset the passwords, searching for ways to delete system logs to ...