Programmer deported for hacking 15 websites

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

An angry programmer who hacked and crashed fifteen websites of his employer’s clients over a Dhs4, 000 salary cut dispute must be deported, the Appeals Court ruled.

The Arab defendant, 33, threatened the company’s 47-year-old Syrian manager that he would take the websites down from the server unless a refund was made. He started implementing the threats from June 2016.

He was nabbed and sued on Feb.21. Prosecutors charged him with issuing threats and hacking with the intention of shutting down the websites. He denied. The Dubai Criminal Court imprisoned him for three months.

However, it suspended the prison term and ordered he be deported. Prosecutors appealed on May 19 and demanded the Appeals Court to hand him a tougher penalty. However, the court has upheld the earlier ruling.

In prosecution records, the manager narrated that the company hired the defendant on Feb.1.2016 as a computer programmer and tasked him with programming, developing and running websites of clients.

Three months after joining work he sent an email in which he apologised and said he would not continue with the task of programming websites. “I reminded him of the employment contract he had signed before joining.

“I told him the company would incur a loss worth Dhs12, 000 if he did not comply. I warned him that the sum will be deducted from his Dhs5, 000 salary by deducting Dhs2, 000 every month for a period of six months.”

The defendant reportedly agreed to this and also agreed that after the six months he would start receiving a Dhs3, 000 salary. However, two months later, he submitted his resignation. The company accepted it.

Ten days later, he sent Whatsapp messages vowing to hack the websites unless the management refunded the Dhs4, 000 it had deducted from his salary during the two months. He implemented the threats.

He utilised his skills to penetrate the 15 websites and shut them down thus severing IT services the company was rendering to its clients. The management filed a complaint against him at Al Muraqqabat Police Station.

A Pakistani engineer said, “He had contacted me vowing to cause problems. When I came across malware I understood he was behind it. Whenever I restored the sites he would disrupt them. We sought police help.”