A former IT worker at UBS has been jailed for eight
years in the US for trying to financially benefit from a “logic
bomb” he planted on the bank’s network.
The computer virus he activated from the code he planted is said
to have caused around £1.55m in damage.
Roger Duronio was found guilty of computer sabotage and
securities fraud earlier this year.
Duronio had previously been employed by UBS as a systems
administrator at UBS Paine Webber in New Jersey.
He is said to have planted the rogue code on around 1,000
networked branch computers after becoming unhappy with an annual
bonus payment.
The bomb was activated when he left the firm in spring 2002.
Before the bomb went off, Duronio bought “put option” stocks worth
over £10,000, so if UBS’s stock price fell following the virus
outbreak, he would benefit.
But even though the bomb damaged UBS’s network, the company’s
stock price failed to plunge, and Duronio lost his cash.
As well as being jailed for securities and computer fraud,
Duronio was ordered to pay UBS £1.6m for the network damage he
caused.
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