Former Engineer Gets 32 Months Prison for Hacking Employer and Demanding Bitcoin (BTC) Ransom
Key Summary
A disgruntled former engineer in Missouri has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for hacking into his employer's computer network and demanding a large Bitcoin ransom. The engineer, Daniel Rhyne, pleaded guilty to extortion and intentional damage to a protected computer, and his sentence was handed down by a U.S. District Judge. The case involved unauthorized remote desktop sessions, deleted network administrator accounts, and a ransom demand of approximately 20 Bitcoin, valued at over $1.6 million at the time of writing.
A disgruntled former core infrastructure engineer at a New Jersey industrial company hacked the firm's network in November 2023 by scheduling damaging tasks before demanding 20 Bitcoin worth about $750,000 to halt the sabotage. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.