BROOKLYN, N.Y.–A former credit union employee here has pleaded guilty to one count of computer intrusion after she accessed the credit union’s computers and destroyed valuable data following her termination by the CU.
Juliana Barile entered the guilty plea in Brooklyn Federal Court before United States District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano. When sentenced, Barile faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.
Court documents do not identify the credit union at which the data was destroyed after Barile was terminated on May 19.
“Two days later, on May 21, she remotely accessed the credit union’s file server and deleted more than 20,000 files and almost 3,500 directories, totaling approximately 21.3 gigabytes of data,” the Brooklyn Eagle reported. “The deleted data included files related to mortgage loan applications and the credit union’s anti-ransomware protection software. Barile also opened confidential files.”
According to the report, after she accessed the computer server without authorization and destroyed files, Barile sent text messages to a friend explaining that “I deleted their shared network documents,” referring to the credit union’s share drive, the Brooklyn Eagle reported.
$10,000 Spent by CU
The publication said the unidentified credit union has spent approximately $10,000 in remediating Barile’s unauthorized intrusion and destruction of data.
“In an act of revenge for being terminated, Barile surreptitiously accessed the computer system of her former employer, a New York credit union, and deleted mortgage loan applications and other sensitive information maintained on its file server,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kasulis. “Protecting private financial data from being compromised or destroyed by unauthorized computer intrusions is an important priority of this office.”
Added FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll, “Ms. Barile may have thought she was getting back at her employer by deleting files, however she did just as much harm to customers. Her petty revenge not only created a huge security risk for the bank, but customers also depending on paperwork and approvals to pay for their homes were left scrambling. An insider threat can wreak just as much havoc, if not more, than an external criminal.”