Suspended worker who launched cyber attack on employer jailed for 7.5 months

A “disgruntled” IT worker who launched a cyber attack on his employer after he was suspended has been jailed for seven and a half months.

Mohamed Umar Taj, 31, of Hyrst Garth, Batley, was suspended from work in July 2022. According to a statement by West Yorkshire Police, within hours he decided to launch the revenge attack on the Huddersfield-based firm.

Taj gained access to the company’s premises and unlawfully accessed systems to alter log-in credentials to disrupt day-to-day activities. The following day he changed access credentials and the firm’s MFA system to “adversely impact the activities of the firm’s clients both in the UK and overseas in Germany and Bahrain.”

The police statement said this had caused “significant disruption to the company causing them to lose at least £200,000 in lost business as well as reputational harm.”

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Taj had kept recordings of his activities, the police said, and discussed the attack on phone recordings recovered forensically by investigators from West Yorkshire Police’s cyber team.

Taj had earlier admitted a charge of committing unauthorised acts with intent to impair the operation of or hindering access to a computer.

He appeared at Leeds Crown Court for sentencing this week where he was sentenced to seven months and 14 days custody.

Detective Sergeant Lindsey Brants of West Yorkshire Police’s Cyber Crime Team said all companies should look at their network security. “Protecting your network prevents data loss and costly cyber attacks. It also maintains trust with clients and stakeholders.”

Research by the Ponemon Institute for DTEX amongst companies that had experienced insider “incidents” showed that quarter of such incidents were malicious. A fifth were down to “outsmarted insiders” while 55% were cased by employee negligence or mistakes.

Back in 2022, NASA’s insider threat programme came under the microscope after hackers gained access to its network via a Raspberry Pi that had been connected without authorization.