August 29, 2024 at 02:34PM
Former infrastructure engineer, Daniel Rhyne, was arrested and charged after allegedly locking colleagues out of their company’s systems and threatening to shut down servers unless paid a ransom. This led to him being charged with extortion, intentional damage to a protected computer, and wire fraud, facing up to 35 years in prison.
Based on the meeting notes, a former infrastructure engineer named Daniel Rhyne has been arrested and charged with one count of extortion, one count of intentional damage to a protected computer, and one count of wire fraud. Rhyne initiated an extortion scheme while working for an industrial company, where he locked IT admins out of their accounts, erased backups, and threatened to shut down servers unless a ransom was paid. He was traced back to the virtual machine used for remote access and also left behind digital footprints, such as internet search history and security camera recordings, leading to his arrest. Currently, Rhyne faces up to 35 years in prison and substantial fines if convicted of these charges.