Destroyed 180 servers with scripts from Google - fired employee caused $678,000 in damages

Kandula Nagaradju, a 39-year-old citizen of India, who worked at NCS (National Computer Systems) in Singapore, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison after being found guilty of unauthorized access to computers. As reported by CNA, Kandula gained access to his former employer's systems for several months after being dismissed. He "had fun" by deleting the company's test servers. In one night, he deployed scripts that led to the complete deletion of all 180 servers.

NCS is a large company headquartered in Singapore that provides IT services in Southeast Asia. It is also present in Australia, Hong Kong, China, and India, and has over 13,000 employees. Kandula Nagaradju worked in the quality assurance computer system, and he and his team used test servers to run programs before deploying them to clients.

Kandula's contract was terminated in October 2022 allegedly due to poor performance. He was upset and saddened by the dismissal, thinking he was doing well in his position. After that, he could not find another job in Singapore, so he left the country and returned to his own.

Kandula discovered that his account information was still active, and he had access to the servers. From January to March 2023, he plotted revenge against his former employer. During this time, he searched Google for server deletion scripts and eventually started testing them on NCS servers.

None of his former team members suspected anything, allowing him to access the system more than 13 times in March 2023 alone. It was during this time that he refined and concealed the scripts. Finally, on March 18 and 19, he activated server deletions one by one to avoid suspicion. When the NCS QA team entered the system on March 20, it was discovered that their test servers were unavailable.

NCS claims that the test servers were autonomous systems used for new applications. It was also stated that no confidential information was stored on them, so company and client data remained secure. However, fixing the situation cost the company approximately $678,000.

The company reported the incident to the police in April 2023. After Kandula returned to Singapore in February 2023, the police traced his location through the IP addresses provided by the company and confiscated his laptop. It was then that they found the scripts he used on NCS servers, as well as his Google search history.