alt.hn

5/12/2026 at 10:28:07 PM

Twin brothers wipe 96 government databases minutes after being fired

 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/

by jnord

5/13/2026 at 12:25:30 AM

> At 4:58 pm, he wiped out a Department of Homeland Security database using the command “DROP DATABASE dhsproddb.”

This article is hilarious. The two bickering brothers remind me of the guys in the Oceans movies played by Casey Affleck and Scott Caan. It’s amazing they got this close to sensitive data.

by chatmasta

5/13/2026 at 12:36:07 AM

Those two in the movies were always a highlight for me, especially when the one joins the other in the Mexican factory riot.

by bmitc

5/12/2026 at 11:00:09 PM

I have no problem with my credentials being revoked everywhere before I know about a layoff. I don't really care how I learn about it, just please don't make me come in to the office.

by chrisra

5/13/2026 at 1:50:14 AM

So this was why the FBI Director Kash Patel was in a panic when he couldn't log in one day. Revoking credentials before firing someone makes a lot of sense in security.

by ccimmergreen

5/13/2026 at 8:28:36 AM

no, becaus the simple and pragmatic solution for ANYONE who is subject to arbitrary termination, is to litter everything they build with caltrops and dead man triggers and then hint that they will go into "consulting" when fired.

I know of one case where this was totaly unintentional, and a machinest at a local pulp and paper plant had self delegated to write the software that controlled tension on the giant machines in the mill, but as it was his only real forey into sofware, nobody else could operate it, and they fired him after a manegment reshuffle, and then after the next scheduled shut down, nothing worked right, greasy dusty ancient screen with a blinking cursor was what they had, plugged into the important bits of a half sqare mile plant. still funny to think about!

by metalman

5/13/2026 at 12:32:11 AM

[flagged]

by xingped

5/13/2026 at 3:30:01 AM

It’s crazy that people are desperate for jobs and these clowns get hired.

by iJohnDoe

5/13/2026 at 12:16:06 AM

> On Feb. 1, 2025, Muneeb Akhter asked Sohaib Akhter for the plaintext password of an individual who submitted a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Public Portal, which was maintained by the Akhters’ employer. Sohaib Akhter conducted a database query on the EEOC database and then provided the password to Muneeb Akhter. That password was subsequently used to access that individual’s email account without authorization.

It should be a federal crime with prison time to make a DB for a federal agency and not hash and salt passwords or other auth credentials.

by waterTanuki

5/12/2026 at 11:26:16 PM

How on earth did someone previously convicted of what sounds like hacking get job access to so many prod government databases? Wild that it took them so long to get caught.

by kaikai

5/12/2026 at 11:18:41 PM

so, apparently, the passwords were stored in cleartext.

by cyanydeez

5/13/2026 at 12:49:27 AM

Remind me of a forum a long time ago that sent me my password in clear when I used the "forgot password" link.

When I advised them that it was a bad idea to store password in clear, they answered that they keep it in clear so that they can send it when someone forget.

Defeated by such argument, I deleted my account.

by whynotmaybe

5/13/2026 at 3:47:14 AM

I've got a better one. I once had the same argument mentioned to me by my manager at the time when I pointed out that passwords were being stored in clear text. That it needs to be this way so that it is read/sent when the users forget their passwords(which happened a lot). I tried to explain that typically a "reset password" flow is used for that but that fell on deaf ears. That system contained healthcare data.

Something bad did end up happening due to that lax security and there were oh so many meetings about it.

by scorpioxy