Ex-Gucci IT Employee Seeks Revenge on a $200,000 Hacking Spree

A former Gucci employee has recently been charged with allegations of hacking into Gucci America Inc.'s computer network, and partaking in such 'destructive' behavior that resulted in more than a $200,000 loss for the luxury fashion giant.

Former employee San Chihlung Yin, 34, worked as a network engineer at Gucci, and prosecutors say that, since being fired in May 2010, Yin has used a secret account that he created while employed by Gucci to hack into the company's computer network. During that time he deleted pertinent data information and shut down various servers and networks, all of which resulted in a complete meltdown of the company's servers.

As of Monday, April 4th, an indictment listing more than 50 allegations to crimes committed has been brought against Yin. This indictment includes charges of computer tampering, identity theft, falsifying business records, computer trespassing, criminal possession of computer-related material, unlawful duplication of computer-related material and unauthorized use of a computer.

In response to what has been reported as a revenge hacking spree, the case's prosecutors have commented that Yin committed these crimes as acts of vengeance for being fired by the company last year, in May 2010.

The New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance stated that "Computer hacking is not a game. It is a serious threat to corporate security that can have a devastating effect on personal privacy, jobs and the ability of a business to function at all," and according to a spokesperson for the New York County District Attorney's office, the charges will potentially earn Yin up to 15 years in prison.

Having been employed as a network engineer for the company, investigations are suggesting that Yin was very adept to maneuvering within Gucci's network and that he used his familiarity and skill to abuse the flaws in the company's network system.

According to the case's prosecutors, while working for the company, whose main U.S. headquarters are located in Manhattan, Yin created a virtual private network (VPN) assignment for a non-existent fictional employee. After being sacked, Yin took this VPN assignment with him, and in June 2010, he managed to get Gucci's IT department to activate this bogus VPN assignment, prosecutors say. Yin used this fake identity and his familiarly with the company's network system to hack into Gucci’s network servers.

Prosecutors say that, on Nov. 12, Yin hacked into the company's network, erased several virtual servers, shut down a storage area network, and deleted data from Gucci's email server. Yin's actions resulted in a situation, where, several Gucci employees were unable to access documents, files, and other types of pertinent materials saved on the network.
The New York County District Attorney's Office also commented that Yin's "destruction of data from the email server cut off the email access not only of corporate staff, but also of store managers across the country and the e-commerce sales team - resulting in thousands of dollars lost in sales."

Though Gucci's corporate email was repaired and restored by the end of the day, prosecutors say that the backlash of Yin's actions lasted for several months and cost the company more than $200,000 in repairs, remediation costs, and weakened productivity levels.