Software Developer Convicted for Sabotaging Employer with Malicious Code

Davis Lu faces up to 10 years in prison after jury finds him guilty of planting a kill switch that disrupted global operations at Eaton Corporation.

Davis Lu, a 55-year-old former employee of Eaton Corporation, was convicted of intentionally damaging protected computers after creating malicious code to sabotage the company's systems.
The sabotage included infinite loops that caused system crashes, deleted coworker profile files, and a 'kill switch' that locked out thousands of users globally upon his termination in 2019.
The 'kill switch,' named 'IsDLEnabledinAD,' was triggered when Lu's account was removed from the company's Active Directory, reportedly causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
Investigators traced the malicious code to Lu's user ID and a server accessible only to him, finding further evidence of his attempts to encrypt and delete company data before returning his work laptop.
Lu plans to appeal the conviction, though he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; a sentencing date has not yet been set.