Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana almost crashed Fannie Mae
Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana almost crashed Fannie Mae
Date: Friday, January 30, 2009 2:27 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1968 -- 1/30/2009 >>>>>
Usually when somebody is arrested for computer sabotage every newspaper in the
country runs a story. Hacking, cracking, and other computer related mischief
is a hip thing to report on, especially if the saboteur is a nerd.
So, why are so few newspapers talking about Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana?
They should be considering he came within days of executing a malware script
that would have created havoc at Fannie Mae.
Major newspapers have avoided this story like the plague. It's not new either,
as you can see from this indictment complaint that was filed in Maryland on
January 6th.
http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/fmncomplaint.pdf
Some of the tech magazines and blogs are just picking the story up. As of this
writing the newspapers are dead silent. Of course most of the political
reporters are still too busy nursing their hangovers from the inauguration or
they have already started partying in Tampa.
I did a google news search at about 9 pm PST on 1/29 and here are the top ten
publications sorted by date:
Information Week Weblog, NY
CRN, NY
EfluxMedia News
The Inquisitr, Australia
VNUNet.com, UK
Dark Reading, NY
SC Magazine US
DaniWeb, VA
NetworkWorld.com, MA
Good Morning Silicon Valley, CA
Not exactly mainstream news coverage, huh? More surprising is that the Indian
press hasn't caught on to the story because they are usually really on top of
these things. A regular google search doesn't look any better -- not a single
major newspaper on the entire first page. Now that the story is spreading like
wildfire on the internet an article will appear sometime in the future, but
the lack of mainstream media coverage is strange indeed.
It's possible the story didn't show up on the public radar screen because
Fannie Mae was referred to in the indictment as "ABC". The indictment says
that "'ABC" is a pseudonym for the victim company, which is a publicly traded
United States company in the mortgage business." If this subterfuge was enough
to fool newspapers like the Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, Wall
Street Journal etc. it's no surprise that they missed the Wall Street bust,
banking collapse, and the mortgage meltdown.
Minimal reporting means that very little is known about this case. Maybe
that's the main idea.
The following is what little I found out about Makwana. Articles about what he
did are included below so instead of focusing on what he is alleged to have
done, I'll focus on what little is known about him, and what this all means.
Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana
* Class of 1991 at Narmda High School Bharuch - Bharuch, Gujarat, India
* 35 years old
* He had an H-1B visa in 2001. His current visa status isn't clear but many
articles say he is a citizen of India. Most likely he has a green card by now,
but it's possible he has retained an H-1B visa by either getting new ones at
different employers, or by using one year extensions. The legal indictment
says that: "He currently resides in Frederick, Maryland on a work visa." It
is easy to jump to the conclusion that he still has an H-1B but the wording is
too hazy to be certain as there are several different scenarios that could fit
the statement.
* His parents have visited the U.S. from India.
* He is a contractor working for Omnitech, which seems to be a bodyshop
located in India.
* He was employed at Fannie Mae for about three years as a contractor.
* Appeared in federal district court on January 6, 2009
* Arrested January 7 in Richmond, Virginia.
* Indicted by a federal grand jury on January 27, 2009.
* Faces a maximum penalty is ten years.
* Currently free on $100,000 bail pending trial.
* Surrendered his passport.
<<<<< PONDER THIS >>>>>
Most of the articles you read portray him as an engineer who got angry and
then wrote a malicious script just as he was losing his job. That would be
quite a feat of cowboy programming considering that he was notified that he
was to be terminated on 10/10/08 at 1 pm and his last activity logged on the
computer was at 4:30. That means he had about three hours to write the script
and hide it in legitimate coding. This doesn't appear to be a crime of
passion.
There are other weird things about the story. An FBI reported the
following:
[Makwana] was let go from his contract position at Fannie Mae's
Urbana, Md., data center on Oct. 24, 2008, after he had
"erroneously created a computer script that changed the
settings on the Unix servers without the proper authority
of his supervisor,"
So, Makwana wasn't the "the best and the brightest" bulb at Fannie Mae, which
isn't saying very much (wink!) but of course all we hear in the media is how
brilliant H-1Bs are. Makwana obviously wasn't the dimmest bulb at Fannie Mae -
- consider this: Some nitwit allowed Makwana to go back to his computer with
administrative permissions, even though he was being fired for screwing up by
running crummy scripts. Duh!
I'm going to go out on a limb, and I'm sure I'll catch a lot of flack for this
one from a the H-1B lovers or liberal thought police, but I think Makwana's
supervisor was probably an Indian H-1B -- maybe even a fellow classmate from
Gujarat. All of us know how Indians stick up for each other, so it's plausible
that one of his buddies wanted to give Makwana enough time to exact his
revenge.
<<<<< OH, AND ONE MORE FUNNY THING >>>>>
The Informationweek article has a short advertisement at the end of the
article.
An InformationWeek report, "Efficiently Isolating Contractors
From Sensitive Data: The Many Advantages Of Software-Based
Contractor Isolation," examines contractor security trends and
offers recommendations for decreasing contractor-related
security risks. Download the report here (registration required).
I didn't register to read it because it's got to be long and boring. I could
have saved them a whole bunch of time by writing a summary with the simple
little phrase: "Don't hire foreign nationals, especially if they have an
attitude!" LOL!
Now just suppose Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana would have succeeded in wiping
out the Fannie Mae computers -- would that have been a good thing or bad? With
no data left on computers to show who has toxic loans, perhaps we as taxpayers
would no longer have to buy off their bad debts. Makwana might have been hours
away from saving the economy of the U.S., or maybe even of the entire world!
History books of the future might have annointed Babubhai the savior of human
civilization; if not for a do-gooder UNIX programmer at Fannie Mae who figured
out what was going on before the script could run.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If any of you out there find web pages that have more
information on Makwana, please save a copy to your computer and send it to me.
These things tend to disappear from the web very quickly when indictments
occur. The information in this newsletter was found by combing the internet
for hours by me and a couple of dedicated activists. I hope a few others will
pitch in and do some of their own investigating because otherwise we will have
to depend on the FBI.
REFERENCES:
http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/fmncomplaint.pdf
Legal complaint: USA vs Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana
http://baltimore.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/ba012709a.htm
FORMER FANNIE MAE CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE INDICTED FOR COMPUTER INTRUSION
http://www.gooverseas.in/sitecontains/viewconsultants.asp?id='Rajendrasi5060_5060'
Old resume by Rajendrasinh B Makwana, it's still in Google cache but maybe not
for long. Notice that he didn't enter education, so his highest degree might
be from high school. he didn't have any credentials either. tsk! tsk!
http://namesdatabase.com/schools/IN/GU/Bharuch%20-%20Bharuch/Narmda%20High%20School
Alumni list of Narmda High School
http://www.omnitechindia.com/
Omnitech India
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212903521
Fannie Mae Contractor Indicted For Logic Bomb
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/012909-fired-fannie-mae-contractor-tried.html
Fired Fannie Mae contractor tried to crash network
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10152546-83.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Fannie Mae IT contractor indicted in malware case
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9127040
Fannie Mae engineer indicted for planting server bomb
http://www.pcworld.com/article/158596/fired_fannie_mae_contractor_tried_to_crash_network.html
Fired Fannie Mae Contractor Tried to Crash Network
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://baltimore.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/ba012709a.htm
FORMER FANNIE MAE CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE INDICTED FOR COMPUTER INTRUSION Alleged
Attempt to Destroy Fannie Mae Computer Data Foiled by Fannie Mae Personnel
Baltimore, Maryland - A federal grand jury indicted Rajendrasinh Babubhai
Makwana, age 35, of Glen Allen, Virginia, formerly of Gaithersburg, Maryland,
today for computer intrusion arising from the transmission of malicious script
to Fannie Mae s computer servers, announced United States Attorney for the
District of Maryland Rod J.
Rosenstein.
According to the one count indictment and affidavit in support of a
criminal complaint previously filed on January 6, 2009, Makwana was a
contractor employee, working at Fannie Mae s Urbana, Maryland facility from
2006 to October 24, 2008. He was a computer programer proficient in a
computer language designed to operate Fannie Mae s 4,000 computer servers, and
was part of a group that created computer scripts for Fannie Mae. As such,
Makwana had access to Fannie Mae s servers throughout the United States.
The indictment and affidavit allege that Makwana was terminated on
October 24, 2008, and advised to turn in all of his Fannie Mae equipment,
including his laptop. According to the affidavit, on October 29, 2008, a
Fannie Mae senior engineer discovered a malicious script embedded in a routine
program. The legitimate and malicious script were removed that day. The
engineer and his supervisors ordered a standard lock down of all access to the
servers. The indictment alleges that Makwana entered the malicious code on
October 24, 2008, and that it was set to execute on January 31, 2009. The
malicious code was designed to propagate throughout the Fannie Mae network of
computers and destroy all data.
Makwana faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. He had his
initial appearance in federal district court on January 6, 2009 following the
filing of the complaint. Arraignment is scheduled for January 30, 2009.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by
indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later
criminal proceedings.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Federal Bureau of
Investigation for its investigative work and commended Assistant United
States Attorney P. Michael Cunningham, who is prosecuting the case.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.gooverseas.in/sitecontains/viewconsultants.asp?id='Rajendrasi5060_5060'
NAME AND IDENTITY
Name Rajendrasinh B Makwana
User ID Rajendrasi5060_5060
EXPERTISE
Title Software Engineer
Expertise Informix, Oracle 7.x, Unix Sun Solaris,C/C++, BaaN ERP
EXPERIENCE
In IT industry (yrs) 4
In area of expertise Informix(24 months), Oracle 7.x(24 months) Worked in US
Yes Companies worked for N.A
EDUCATION
Doctorate
Masters
Bachelors
Certifications N.A
AVAILABILITY
H-1B Status On Bench
Date available 1/1/2000
Current location Sugarland, Select
Willing to relocate Yes
EXPECTATIONS
Salary 50-100K (US$ p.a)
NOTES I am UNIX SUN SOLARIS administrator having around 5 years of experience.
I have done MCA with distinction. Also, I am conversent with oracle/d2k,
informix, baan, c/c++ and visual basic
DATE POSTED 4/18/2001
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/management/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212903521
Fannie Mae Contractor Indicted For Logic Bomb
Had the malicious script designed to wipe Fannie Mae's 4,000 servers not been
discovered, the company could have lost millions of dollars and a week's worth
of up-time.
By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek
Jan. 29, 2009
It was mere chance that a senior Unix engineer with Fannie Mae discovered the
logic bomb.
The logic bomb, a malicious script designed to wipe Fannie Mae's 4000 servers,
was allegedly placed by Rajendrasinh Makwana, an IT contractor who worked in
Fannie Mae's Urbana, Md. facility. It was set to execute on January 31, 2009.
Had it done so, Fannie Mae engineers expect it would have caused millions of
dollars in damage and possibly shut down the government-sponsored mortgage
lender for a week.
Makwana, 35, was indicted for unauthorized computer access on Tuesday in a
Maryland District Court. Court documents indicate that he is a citizen of
India who resides in the United States under a work visa.
According to the affidavit of FBI special agent Jessica Nye, the Unix engineer
who found the malicious script, identified only as SK, did so by accident.
"The malicious script was at the bottom of the legitimate script, separated by
approximately one page of blank lines, apparently in an effort to hide the
malicious script within the legitimate script," the affidavit states.
The discovery occurred on October 29. Makwana had been terminated as a Fannie
Mae contractor on October 24, around 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., the affidavit
says, but his network access was not terminated until late that evening.
Makwana was fired for allegedly creating a computer script earlier that month
that changed server settings without the permission of his supervisor.
Makwana was not required to turn in his badge or Fannie Mae-supplied laptop
until the end of the day on October 24. According to Nye's affidavit, it was
during that afternoon that Makwana is alleged to have planted the malicious
script.
"On October 24, 2008, at 2:53 pm, a successful SSH (secure shell) login from
IP address 172.17.38.29, with user ID s9urbm, assigned to Makwana, gained root
access to dsysadmin01, the development server," the affidavit states. "...IP
address 172.17.38.29 was last assigned to the computer named rs12h-Lap22,
which was [a Fannie Mae] laptop assigned to Makwana...The laptop and Unix
workstation where Makwana was able to gain root access and create the
malicious script were located in his cubicle."
Makwana is currently free on $100,000 bail pending trial. He has had to
surrender his passport.
Christopher C. Nieto, the public defender representing Makwana, said his
client will be entering a plea of not guilty on Friday, but could not comment
further at this time.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, sees the risk of
similar incidents as companies downsize in response to the troubled economy.
"As belts tighten and the credit crunch continues to hit around the world,
more and more companies will be making the decision to make staff and
contractors redundant," he said in an online post. "...[A] disaffected
employee could create havoc inside your organization so make sure that
appropriate security is in place."
An InformationWeek report, "Efficiently Isolating Contractors From Sensitive
Data: The Many Advantages of Software-based Contractor Isolation," examines
contractor security trends and offers recommendations for decreasing
contractor-related security risks. Down the report here (registration
required).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/012909-fired-fannie-mae-contractor-tried.html
Fired Fannie Mae contractor tried to crash network
By Robert McMillan , IDG News Service , 01/29/2009 Sponsored by:
A former Fannie Mae IT contractor has been charged with planting malicious
software on the mortgage giant's systems on the day he lost his job last
October.
Rajendrasinh Makwana, 35, who at the time was a contract employee at Fannie
Mae, planted a nasty custom script designed to wipe out about 4,000 of the
company's servers on Jan. 31, 2009, according to a sworn affidavit from
Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jessica Nye. Makwana was
indicted Tuesday by a federal court in Maryland on a charge of computer
intrusion.
The script was installed on Fannie Mae's servers less than an hour after
Makwana was told that Oct. 24 would be his last day at the company, Nye said.
It was discovered five days later by a Fannie Mae Unix administrator, who
found it tagged on to the end of a legitimate script designed to check that
the data-center's storage area network was running correctly.
"The malicious script was at the bottom of the legitimate script, separated by
approximately one page of blank lines, apparently in an effort to hide the
malicious script within a legitimate script. It was only by chance that [the
Fannie Mae administrator] scrolled down to the bottom of the legitimate script
to discover the malicious script," Nye said.
Related Content
Makwana had been working as a Unix administrator at Fannie Mae's Urbana,
Maryland, data center for nearly three years at the time of the incident. A
Fannie Mae spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
He had apparently been in hot water before his termination. Nye said that he
was fired because two weeks before the incident he had "erroneously created a
computer script that changed the settings on the Unix servers without the
proper authority of his supervisor."
From Nye's account, the code was nasty. It was set to lurk silently on the
computer's network until Jan. 31, 2009, when it would catalog all servers in
the company's data center, reset root passwords, destroy backup software and
wipe out all data on the servers, and then power them off. "Had this malicious
script executed, [Fannie Mae's] engineers expect it would have caused millions
of dollars of damage and reduced if not shutdown operations at [Fannie Mae]
for at least one week. If this script were executed, the total damage would
include cleaning out and restoring all 4,000 ...
servers, restoring and securing the automation of mortgages, and restoring all
data that was erased," Nye said.
Engineers attempting to log in to the servers would be denied access and
simply given the message "Server Graveyard."
Makwana was arrested in Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 7. His court-appointed
attorney did not return a call seeking comment for this story.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10152546-83.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
January 29, 2009 7:45 AM PST
Fannie Mae IT contractor indicted in malware case
Posted by Larry Dignan Font size Print E-mail Share 10 comments This was
originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.
A former Fannie Mae IT contractor has been indicted on charges of planting a
of dollars in damages, and even shut down operations. How might this have
occurred? The contractor was terminated, but his server privileges were not.
Rajendrasinh Makwana was indicted on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for
Maryland (press report, complaint PDF, and indictment PDF). From early 2006 to
Oct. 24, Makwana was a contractor for Fannie Mae. According to the indictment,
Makwana allegedly targeted Fannie Mae's network after he was terminated. The
goal was to "cause damage to Fannie Mae's computer network by entering
malicious code that was intended to execute on January 31, 2009." And given
that Fannie Mae--along with Freddie Mac--was nationalized in an effort to
stabilize the mortgage market, a malware intrusion could have caused a good
bit of havoc.
Makwana worked at Fannie Mae's data center in Urbana, Md., as a Unix engineer,
as a contractor with a firm called OmniTech. He had root access to all Fannie
Mae servers.
The tale of the malware bomb plot is a warning shot to all security teams and
IT departments. Given the level of layoffs we've seen lately, the ranks of
disgruntled former employees is likely to grow. Is there any company NOT
lopping off a big chunk of its workforce? And some of these workers may even
have Makwana's access privileges and knowledge of the corporate network.
Sophos' Graham Cluley says:
[images not included]
As belts tighten and the credit crunch continues to hit around the world, more
and more companies will be making the decision to make staff redundant. As
we've written before, a disaffected employee could create havoc inside your
organisation so make sure that appropriate security is in place.
Indeed, Makwana allegedly had intended to do some serious damage such as
"destroying and altering all of the data on all Fannie Mae servers." That
quote from the indictment puts it mildly. According to the initial complaint
dollars of damage." Anyone who logged into the Fannie Mae network on Jan. 31
would have seen a message "Server Graveyard."
Details of Makwana's alleged plot surfaced in a complaint that was initially
sealed to protect the identity of Fannie Mae. In the complaint, Fannie Mae is
referred to as "ABC," but defined as an outfit that facilitates mortgages. In
a sworn statement, FBI agent Jessica Nye outlined the following:
Luckily, the Fannie Mae server scripts were returned to normal before mortgage
chaos ensued. But the errors listed in the complaint are clear.
The biggest problem: Makwana's access wasn't terminated when he was. He had
access to Fannie Mae servers longer than he should have.
Here's a look at the notable excerpts of the complaint. As you can see there
were warning signs and mistakes made along the way. Emphasis is mine.
So far so good right? Makwana screwed up, was terminated, and had to turn in
his gear and access privileges.
Well, that last part didn't go so well.
The good news is that Makwana's access didn't go on indefinitely. I've known
more than a few people who could access their former employer's network for
months after they left the company.
However, catching the malware script was really a function of luck.
There was also some good detective work too--the complaint details Makwana's
alleged techniques and script set-up--by the Fannie Mae security team.
However, a lot of work could have been avoided if only Makwana's privileges
were terminated when he was.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9127040
Fannie Mae engineer indicted for planting server bomb
Contract employee inserted script that would have wiped out all data this
Saturday Gregg Keizer January 29, 2009 (Computerworld) A former Unix engineer
for the Federal National Mortgage Association, better known as Fannie Mae, has
been accused of planting malicious code on the corporation's network that was
to "destroy and alter" all of the data on the company's servers this Saturday,
court documents show.
Rajendrasinh Babubhai Makwana, 35, was indicted Tuesday by a federal court on
a single charge of computer intrusion, according to documents released
yesterday.
Makwana, an employee at Omnitech Systems Inc., was let go from his contract
position at Fannie Mae's Urbana, Md., data center on Oct. 24, 2008, after he
had "erroneously created a computer script that changed the settings on the
Unix servers without the proper authority of his supervisor," read a complaint
sworn by FBI Special Agent Jessica Nye earlier this month.
Makwana had created that settings-changing script on Oct. 10 or Oct. 11, as
much as two weeks before he was fired, Nye said.
Within 90 minutes of being told he was terminated on Oct. 24, and several
hours before his access to the Fannie Mae network was disabled later that
evening, Makwana embedded a malicious script in a legitimate script that ran
on Fannie Mae's network every morning, Nye said in her affidavit.
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.
If the malicious script had gone undiscovered, it would have disabled
monitoring alerts and all log-ins, deleted the root passwords to the
approximately 4,000 Fannie Mae servers, then erased all data and backup data
on those servers by overwriting with zeros.
"Finally, this script would power off all servers, disabling the ability to
remotely turn on a server," said the government's complaint. "Subsequently,
the only way to turn the servers back on was physically getting to a data
center."
The malicious script would have disabled monitoring alerts and log-ins,
deleted root passwords to 4,000 Fannie Mae servers, and erased all data and
backup data on those servers by overwriting with zeros.
The script would have "caused millions of dollars in damage and reduced if not
shutdown [sic] operations at [Fannie Mae] for at least one week" if it had not
been found before Saturday's trigger date, the complaint said.
According to Nye, the FBI traced the malicious script to Makwana through
Fannie Mae network logs, and by comparing the contents of a directory that
Makwana created the day he was terminated with the naming scheme of temporary
files on his laptop, which he turned in later that day.
An Indian national, Makwana was released on $100,000 bond. He also surrendered
his passport and was barred from using computers or the Internet except for
use in any job he holds as well as to communicate with his family in India.
Makwana faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted.
Fannie Mae opened the 130,000-sq.-ft. Urbana data center, which is just
outside Frederick, Md., in August 2005, and at the time touted its energy-
savings construction and operation.
Fannie Mae's corporate spokesman did not return a call for comment.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.pcworld.com/article/158596/fired_fannie_mae_contractor_tried_to_crash_network.html
Fired Fannie Mae Contractor Tried to Crash Network
A former Fannie Mae contract employee has been charged with trying to sabotage
the company's computer system.
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
Thursday, January 29, 2009 02:00 PM PST
A former Fannie Mae IT contractor has been charged with planting malicious
software on the mortgage giant's systems on the day he lost his job last
October.
Rajendrasinh Makwana, 35, who at the time was a contract employee at Fannie
Mae, planted a nasty custom script designed to wipe out about 4,000 of the
company's servers on Jan. 31, 2009, according to a sworn affidavit from
Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jessica Nye. Makwana was
indicted Tuesday by a federal court in Maryland on a charge of computer
intrusion.
The script was installed on Fannie Mae's servers less than an hour after
Makwana was told that Oct. 24 would be his last day at the company, Nye said.
It was discovered five days later by a Fannie Mae Unix administrator, who
found it tagged on to the end of a legitimate script designed to check that
the data-center's storage area network was running correctly.
"The malicious script was at the bottom of the legitimate script, separated by
approximately one page of blank lines, apparently in an effort to hide the
malicious script within a legitimate script. It was only by chance that [the
Fannie Mae administrator] scrolled down to the bottom of the legitimate script
to discover the malicious script," Nye said.
Makwana had been working as a Unix administrator at Fannie Mae's Urbana,
Maryland, data center for nearly three years at the time of the incident. A
Fannie Mae spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
He had apparently been in hot water before his termination. Nye said that he
was fired because two weeks before the incident he had "erroneously created a
computer script that changed the settings on the Unix servers without the
proper authority of his supervisor."
From Nye's account, the code was nasty. It was set to lurk silently on the
computer's network until Jan. 31, 2009, when it would catalog all servers in
the company's data center, reset root passwords, destroy backup software and
wipe out all data on the servers, and then power them off. "Had this malicious
script executed, [Fannie Mae's] engineers expect it would have caused millions
of dollars of damage and reduced if not shutdown operations at [Fannie Mae]
for at least one week. If this script were executed, the total damage would
include cleaning out and restoring all 4,000 ...
servers, restoring and securing the automation of mortgages, and restoring all
data that was erased," Nye said.
Engineers attempting to log in to the servers would be denied access and
simply given the message "Server Graveyard."
Makwana was arrested in Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 7. His court-appointed
attorney did not return a call seeking comment for this story.
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