June 14, 2024 at 11:58AM
Former NCS employee, Nagaraju Kandula, sentenced to 2 years and 8 months for deleting 180 virtual servers after being fired. His action caused $678,000 in damages. NCS overlooked invalidating his credentials, allowing continued access. Kandula used his credentials to access NCS systems and execute the damaging attack. This incident emphasizes the importance of promptly revoking former employees’ access to critical systems to prevent catastrophic attacks.
Based on the meeting notes, it is clear that a former employee of NCS, Nagaraju Kandula, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for deleting 180 virtual servers after being fired. This act was reportedly done out of spite for getting fired and caused damages estimated at $678,000. It was highlighted that NCS operates in over 20 cities across the Asia-Pacific region and employs 13,000 people. Kandula, who was a quality assurance team member, had his credentials still valid after being let go, allowing him continued access to NCS systems. He used this access to develop and execute a wiper script that deleted the virtual servers. The incident was reported to the police, and Kandula was traced back as the perpetrator. It was emphasized that organizations must promptly block all former-employee access to critical systems once dismissed and reset passwords for all administrative accounts to prevent similar catastrophic incidents in the future.