Fannie Mae Engineer Indicted for Planting Crippling Code

A former Fannie Mae contract worker was indicted Tuesday on a count of computer sabotage for planting malicious code that would have crippled the mortgage giant’s network of 4,000 servers for at least a week, Wired reports. Rajendrasinh Babubha Makwana crafted the malware the same day he was fired in October, and it was set to activate Jan. 31. Another engineer stumbled upon the code.

The “logic bomb” was hidden at the end of a legitimate piece of programming. In addition to wiping the contents of the servers, the malware would have crippled their ability to download from backup computers, requiring a lengthy reformatting process. Makwana made his move after being fired, which an FBI agent did not find amusing. “Despite Makwana’s termination, Makwana’s computer access was not immediately terminated.” (More Fannie Mae stories.)