35-Year-Old Outsourced Worker Fired, Chooses “One-Click Revenge”: Hacks System to Reset 2,500 Passwords, Causing Former Employer Over 6 Million in Losses
Insider Threats Surge Amid Tech Industry Layoffs
2025-11-24 13:41 — Beijing
The wave of layoffs in the tech sector is not only reshaping the workforce but is also fueling a rise in insider threats.
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Maxwell Schultz Case: Retaliation Hack Costs Nearly $1M
Summary:
After being laid off, 35-year-old Maxwell Schultz exploited insider knowledge to infiltrate his former employer’s systems, causing USD 862,000 in losses and pleading guilty to federal charges.
Timeline:
- May 14, 2021: Schultz — an IT contractor in Ohio — is terminated.
- Post-Termination: He impersonates another contractor to obtain login credentials.
- Attack Method:
- Used PowerShell scripts to reset ~2,500 passwords, locking thousands of users out.
- Deleted multiple logs to cover tracks.
- Exploited weak authentication and insufficient monitoring.
> Note: PowerShell, a legitimate Windows administrative tool, demonstrates how trusted utilities can be weaponized in insider attacks.
Impact:
- Widespread downtime
- Call center outages
- Extensive recovery effort lasting weeks
Victim Company:
Not officially disclosed; local media speculate Waste Management, the largest U.S. waste disposal service provider.
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Schultz’s Role and Skills
A LinkedIn post reveals he managed IT issues for ~30 remote sites, upgrading firewalls/switches, deploying SD-WAN, resolving VMware Horizon incidents, imaging hardware, and more.
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Expert Observations
> “Houston's energy sector pays tech workers miserably low wages… Many come from oil and gas with minimal technical skills, mostly resetting passwords for years.”
> “The key point isn’t the tech, but the social engineering — Schultz impersonated another contractor to bypass defenses.”
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Layoffs and Insider Threat Risk
Industry statistics:
- 118,000+ tech employees laid off in 2025 (Crunchbase)
- Intel layoff rate: 31%
- Microsoft cuts: 19,000 positions
Pattern:
Former employees often leave with deep knowledge of vulnerabilities; resentment compounds risk.
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Related Cases
- Davis Lu (Eaton) — Installed a Java-based “self-destruct switch” after demotion, leading to crashes, data deletion, and 4-year imprisonment.
- Atlanta IT Manager (2020) — Retaliation hack caused $800K in losses.
- Forbes Employee (1997) — Termination led to destructive cyberattack.
Common Thread:
Weak offboarding and delayed account revocation make retaliation easier.
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Prevention Strategies
Technical Controls
- Immediate account revocation upon termination.
- Review and strengthen Multi-Factor Authentication.
- Deploy behavioral analytics for abnormal activity.
Human Factors
- Maintain transparency in layoffs (communication, compensation, job placement).
- Offer psychological and career support to minimize resentment.
> “Firing an employee without locking the digital doors is like leaving your car keys in the ignition.” — Cybersecurity consultant
Legal Deterrence
- Enforcement under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
- Precedent-setting harsher sentences may discourage retaliation.
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AI Tools in Risk Management
Platforms such as AiToEarn官网 offer AI-powered, open-source solutions for:
- Multi-platform content generation and publishing
- Real-time analytics and AI model rankings
- Potential adaptation for incident communication, employee workflow tracking, and behavioral risk detection
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Broader Industry Context
While AI narratives dominate public discourse about job cuts, many insiders suspect overseas outsourcing is the primary driver, with AI used as a convenient explanation.
> “Our HR and IT departments have been replaced by ‘AI’ chatbots… Finance and marketing departments hit hard too.”
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Reference Links
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Event Highlight: AICon Global (Dec 19–20, Beijing)
AI is no longer mere support — it is becoming the core engine of organizational transformation. The AICon Global Artificial Intelligence Development & Application Conference will cover:
- Building scalable Agentic operating systems
- Embedding AI in cost-reduction and efficiency strategies
- Breaking growth ceilings with intelligent transformation
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Further Reading:
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Exploring AiToEarn:
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