A former quality assurance employee of National Computer Systems (NCS), Nagaraju Kandula, has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for deleting 180 virtual servers after being fired.
Kandula, 39, pleaded guilty to the charges, admitting that he deleted the virtual servers in an act of sabotage out of spite for his termination from NCS. The malicious act caused an estimated $678,000 in damages to the firm's systems.
NCS (National Computer Systems), Owned by Singtel Group is a major player in the IT industry across Asia-Pacific, based in Singapore and a subsidiary of the Singtel Group. It operates in over 20 cities across the Asia-Pacific region and employs 13,000 people.
NCS provides a range of IT services, including consulting, digital transformation, and infrastructure solutions, catering to various industries and contributing significantly to the region's technological advancements.
Nagaraju Kandula worked as a quality assurance (QA) team member at NCS, responsible for testing new software and programs before their launch. He was let go from his job on November 16, 2022, due to poor performance. However, the company overlooked invalidating his credentials, allowing him continued access to their systems.
According to a report by news outlet CNA, which reviewed court documents, Kandula used his non-invalidated account credentials between January and March 2023 to access NCS systems over thirteen times. During these unauthorized access events, he tested custom scripts to determine his ability to wipe virtual servers managed by the QA team. His actions ultimately led to the deletion of 180 virtual servers, causing significant damage to NCS.
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