A former IT expert employed by a public high school in Essex County, Massachusetts, is poised to confront legal consequences after purportedly embarking on a cyber-vandalism spree that severely disrupted the school's network. The ex-employee, 30-year-old Conor LaHiff of Ayer, has been hit with a federal charge of wreaking digital havoc by taking down thousands of school Apple IDs and killing the school's phone lines, authorities said.
After getting the boot from his tech gig in June, LaHiff reportedly used his still-active admin privileges to effectively pull the plug on 1,400 Apple accounts and, in doing so, snuffed the life out of the school's Apple School Manager service, a key tool in managing the district's IT resources, the U.S. Attorney’s Office detailed on Wednesday. Not content with that, he is also accused of disabling the school's entire phone system.
LaHiff, who is currently out of custody, will reportedly plead guilty to one count of unauthorized damage to protected computers. This charge could land him up to 10 years in jail, along with the possibility of three years of supervised release and a fine that could swing as high as $250,000, or double the amount of the gross gain or loss caused by his alleged cyber-temper tantrum.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy, alongside Jodi Cohen, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, announced the charge. Mackenzie A. Queenin of the Securities, Financial, & Cyber Fraud Unit is handling the prosecution for this case.
Details mentioned in the charges are still allegations, with the presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
