Crime & Public Safety

Chinese National Sentenced to 4 Years for ‘Kill Switch’ Computer Code on Employer’s Network

‘The defendant breached his employer’s trust by using his access and technical knowledge to sabotage company networks,’ a DOJ official said.
Chinese National Sentenced to 4 Years for ‘Kill Switch’ Computer Code on Employer’s Network
An unnamed Chinese hacker uses a computer at an office in Dongguan, in China's southern Guangdong Province, on Aug. 4, 2020. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images
Frank Fang
Frank Fang
Reporter
|Updated:
0:00

A federal judge in Ohio sentenced a Chinese national to four years in prison on Aug. 21 for sabotaging his former employer’s network with malicious computer code, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Davis Lu, 55, a legal resident in Houston, was convicted by a Cleveland jury of causing intentional damage to protected computers in March. According to a sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors in early August, the victim is the Ohio-based power management company Eaton Corp., where Lu worked as a computer programmer between 2007 and 2019.
Frank Fang
Frank Fang
Reporter
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based reporter. He covers U.S., China, and Taiwan news. He holds a master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
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