Fannie Mae employee tried to sabotage computer

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, January 31, 2009
from a story in ComputerWorld

A computer programmer working for US Federal mortgage lender Fannie Mae was suspected of planting a software time bomb to destroy records of his employer. ComputerWorld reports |”Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana, 35, was indicted Tuesday by a federal court on a single charge of computer intrusion, according to documents released yesterday.” No damage occurred as another employee noticed the malicious script and deleted it. The accused was terminated from employment in October 2008.”The malicious script was set to trigger Jan. 31 — this Saturday — but was discovered by another Fannie Mae engineer just five days after Makwana was fired. According to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Makwana tried to hide the malicious script by inserting a page of blank lines at the bottom of the legitimate script.”It was only by chance that [the Fannie Mae engineer] scrolled down to the bottom of the legitimate script to discover the malicious script,” the complaint read.” While such acts are rare they are the subject of computer folklore. Employers should and can prepare contingency plans and security to avoid employee mischief.