Indian IT professional jailed for deleting Singapore-based company's data post-termination
An Indian IT professional, Kandula Nagaraju, has been sentenced to two years and six months in jail by a Singapore court, for deleting a Singapore-based company's server data. The incident occurred after Nagaraju was terminated from his job at NCS, a company specializing in information communication. The 39-year-old's termination was reportedly due to poor performance in October 2022. Following his dismissal, he erased 180 virtual servers, resulting in a financial loss of $678,000 (nearly ₹5.6 crore) for the company.
Details of the incident and financial impact
According to Channel News Asia, a Singaporean multinational news channel, Nagaraju was disappointed by his termination. At NCS, he was part of a team responsible for managing the quality assurance (QA) computer system. Although Nagaraju and his team had access to new software, programs, and virtual servers, they did not have any confidential company information. However, the deletion of servers and other data by Nagaraju might have resulted in a significant financial setback for the company.
Unauthorized access and data deletion
After his termination, Nagaraju returned to India without securing another job in Singapore. He then used his laptop to gain unauthorized access to the NCS system via administrator login credentials. Between January 16-17 2023, he repeated this process six times to erase the company's server data. Despite finding another job in Singapore and returning to the country, he continued to access the NCS system and delete crucial data.
Legal action and court ruling for actions
After three months of unauthorized access and data deletion, an investigation was launched by the NCS team and a complaint was lodged with Singapore police. The court found Nagaraju guilty of accessing company data without authorization. His employment had ended on November 16, 2022.
