A former Intel employee has been accused of stealing thousands of sensitive files after being let go during mass layoffs earlier this year.
Thousands of staff were caught up in layoffs after Lip Bu-Tan took over the reins at the struggling chipmaker in March, and Jingeng Luo was among those affected.
After working for Intel since 2014 and receiving notice in July, Luo is accused of using his last few weeks in the office to download thousands of files, including sensitive documents, sparking a lawsuit from Intel seeking damages of $250,000.
The incident highlights the potential risk of insider threats — of particular relevance as the tech industry undergoes plenty of layoffs.
Earlier this year, a 55-year-old was convicted of causing intentional damage to protected computers for a campaign of internal sabotage at his employer, power management company Eaton Corp, after he saw a reduction in his responsibilities at work.
Davis Lu reportedly created "infinite loops" that prevented users from logging into their accounts, wreaking havoc for colleagues.
And last year, a disgruntled IT worker was arrested after targeting a former employee with an extortion campaign that included changing admin passwords and shutting down servers if $750,000 in bitcoin wasn't paid.
What happened?
Luo was told he was being laid off on 7 July, with his contract ending 31 July. A few weeks after being informed, Luo is accused of attempting to download a file from his Intel-provided laptop to an external hard drive, but Intel's internal controls blocked the transfer.
That didn't raise any red flags on the system, however, so he had a second go, according to a court document filed by Intel.
Five days later, according to the allegations, he tried again, using a NAS device — and this time it worked. Over the next four days, Luo downloaded and transferred nearly 18,000 documents, including files marked as "top secret".
Intel said the data transfer was detected internally and sparked an investigation.
Intel said in the court filing that Luo held an engineering position with access to a wide range of confidential information, including data classified as "top secret" and worked on projects that Intel "zealously protected from external disclosure."
$250,000 complaint
Intel said it attempted to contact Luo multiple times over several months to return the files, but the former staffer isn't responding to emails, letters or phone calls, so it filed suit.
The chipmaker said that Luo has “refused to even engage with Intel, let alone return the files, provide the NAS device for examination, or otherwise cooperate with Intel's investigation."
The company is claiming damages of at least $250,000. Luo is believed to be based in Washington state or Oregon, and has not yet publicly responded to the allegations.
Intel noted that Luo signed an agreement to hold such data in strict confidence, and return all data at the end of his employment. Generally, Intel has policies which ban external devices from being connected to company computers or networks.
"Luo’s continued silence demonstrates that he has no intention of cooperating with Intel in any capacity despite his contractual obligation to do so," Intel's court filing noted.
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