A man in  the UK, angry at his employer for denying him a raise, spent three years spraying Cillit Bang into the company’s computer equipment in multiple locations, causing a little over $50,000 worth of damage to the company’s servers.

Prosecutor Steve Malloy QC told a judge: “On Saturday, June 30, 2012, Mr. Sobolewski was seen on the CCTV camera in the main server room at a time he should not have been in there at all.

“He entered into the room with a distinctive purple bottle of Cillit Bang and the following day he was seen spraying it into the computer grills and then wiping the excess fluid away with a cloth.

“He is then seen pouring a container of liquid into one of the machines.”

For those not familiar wit

h Cillit Bang it is known in the US as Easy Off Bang and is not intended for electronics; rather it is primarily used for removing limescale and grease.

Mr. Sobolewski was sentenced to 8 months in prison and restitution.  Judge Patrick Eccles addressed Mr. Sobolewski after sentencing saying in part: “These were malicious actions, regularly carried out by you against your employer over perceived slights. Whilst you are remorseful – and I’m sure you are – it’s only because these ma

tters were eventually found out. Had you not been discovered, it is likely you would have continued doing it.”

So in the end Mr. Sobolewski not only missed out on a few raises, he now will be missing out on his life for a few months and will be paying from his own pocket for the damage he caused.  If only he’d put the effort into his performance instead of sabotage no

 

one would be any the wiser the amount of damage Cillit Bang causes computer equipment.

On the other hand this does put a spot light on the need, not only for external security when it comes to your computer equipment and electronic data, but for internal security and awareness as well.  It took 3 years of repeated major equipment failures for this company to take proactive security steps and determine the cause.  Make sure you’re company’s security procedures take into account all manners of potential threats.

Internal threats and loss frequently cause a great deal more loss than outside threats.