Cloud engineer gets 2 years for wiping ex-employer's code repos

Re:Cloud engineer gets 2 years for wiping ex-employer's code... by Volundr on Tuesday December 12, 2023 @12:59PM (#38615817)

Don't underestimate a dumb managers influence on this. Back when I was running an orgs IT we had a similar incident when we fired an employee. HR had given us the heads up when it would happen, and we had someone standing by to kill their credentials (as the meeting started someone would give the final go ahead). Their manager however decided to "get it over with" without telling us, then when said employee asked if they could get some information off their work computer, proceeded to sit with them while they attempted to delete all their work.

I was able to recover it from OneDrives second recycle bin so nothing was lost, but I was livid. This employee was literally being fired because they were refusing to train anyone else on their work for "job security purposes", it's not like we didn't have warning this wouldn't be graceful.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cloud engineer gets 2 years for wiping ex-employer's code... by sonicanatidae on Tuesday December 12, 2023 @01:05PM (#38615903)

I remove this from HR's and other Department's hands, once IT is made aware. Beforehand, I obviously cannot affect.

They tell IT in advance and maintain the schedule and contact us to adjust or DRAMA. Lots and lots of drama.

Had I been in that situation, I would taken that garbage to my direct Super, which is usually the CFO. I would explain why this is such a horrific idea. They usually agree. If they don't, then I look for somewhere else to work, since I cannot keep PHI secure, when I cannot control who has what access and when.

I'm not going to be held responsible when others callous actions remove all the guardrails. No thanks.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cloud engineer gets 2 years for wiping ex-employer's code... by Volundr on Tuesday December 12, 2023 @01:14PM (#38616044)

In short, the issue is that the manager didn't keep to the schedule. If they had done it at the proper time HR would have been involved and we would have gotten our notification. Instead the damage was done hours before this was scheduled to happen.

In terms of higher-ups notification the "oh shit can you recover this" call came from the CEO

I don't know what happened to the manager. I can't imagine it ended well for them, pretty much that entire section of the org was on thin ice (acquisition that didn't want to absorb into the company) so I can't imagine it ended well. I know we didn't pursue legal action against the ex-employee, which pissed me off at the time, but I can see the logic in leaving it done and dusted.

The only PHI the company held was what HR had on it's the employees, so not at risk here.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Cloud engineer gets 2 years for wiping ex-employer's code... by sonicanatidae on Tuesday December 12, 2023 @02:00PM (#38616710)

It's often not pursued by a company unless there are literal damages. Morality, sadly, has nothing do to with the decisions corporations make.

I'm glad to know you didn't suffer for this. It happens so much in the tech world that most of us have installed creature comforts in the space under the bus. I've installed a nice recliner, a small, but tasteful lamp and a few good books to read, during my time under it.

[ Parent | on HN ]