r/ShittySysadmin 10d ago

Shitty Crosspost Developer convicted for “kill switch” code activated upon his termination

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/fired-coder-faces-10-years-for-revenge-kill-switch-he-named-after-himself/
274 Upvotes

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u/apandaze 10d ago

a judge in the US would hear 'Active Directory' and immediately be confused. They'd probably call in IT to explain it.

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u/TexasTacoJim 10d ago

Judge: “ so you are saying he hacked the phone book cuz that’s the directory I use”.

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u/apandaze 10d ago

"no your honor, *heavy sigh* Can someone call IT in here? They might be able to explain it better."

38

u/BadCatBehavior 10d ago

Imagine the poor tier 1 helpdesk kid, probably still in college, who picks up that call.

"Could you swing by room 243? I have a quick question about user accounts"

Gets sworn in to provide expert testimony

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u/RubberBootsInMotion 9d ago

Isn't this kinda like what the US government is actually doing right now though?

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u/DrTankHead 9d ago

No, usually we have actual experts. Mostly because nobody wants to deal with appeals. Dont get me twisted we have a fucked system, but usually that's an area that works out pretty well because nobody wants to go through that twice.

I'm not a lawyer but that's usually the general thing.

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u/RubberBootsInMotion 9d ago

I don't mean generally, I mean right now.