Image by Getty / Futurism
Anyone who’s ever left a bad job knows the temptation to pull off a petty stunt on your last day. It’s one thing if you work at Little Caesar’s. But as one cancer researcher found out, sometimes it’s best to leave your parting thoughts to an email.
Last week, a federal jury found a former Stanford University researcher guilty of tampering with protected email servers. Which somehow sounds better than what actually happened: Naheed Mangi was convicted on several charges for deleting breast cancer research data and replacing it with insults directed at her former supervisor.
It’s a trial over ten years in the making: back in 2013, Mangi was let go of her job as a research coordinator overseeing an experimental breast cancer treatment due to performance issues. Though no longer welcome to log into Stanford’s clinical database, Mangi’s account wasn’t revoked until the next day.
So the former researcher indulged in a costly romp through the digital garden, falsifying patient records with nonsense information, insulting clinical doctors, and launching a diatribe at her boss.
When Stanford launched an investigation into the breach of a protected database, Mangi’s former coworkers noted she was “very angry” about the firing. Now, after a lengthy investigation by the Secret Service, the researcher is facing a max of 21 years in prison after causing “thousands of dollars in financial loss” to the University.
“Naheed Mangi intentionally tampered with a breast cancer research database by entering false information and personal insults,” said US attorney Patrick Robbins in a Justice Department statement about the conviction. “Her senseless actions undermined a study into the safety and efficacy of a new treatment for breast cancer patients.”
It’s not known why this case took so long to prosecute, but it’s clear that Mangi’s antics went way over the line. They’re also unusual; academic fraud is alarmingly common, but usually it takes the form of researchers chasing clout by falsifying interesting results in a bid to get published in impressive journals.
Still, she’s not the first spurned employee to give into the temptation to leave some vengeful pranks behind after a firing.
Last month, a former Disney employee pled guilty to tampering with allergy information and adding swastikas to Disney restaurant menus, on top of changing wine regions to sites of mass shootings. He faces a minimum of two years in prison for tampering with “nearly every menu in the system” months after being let go for misconduct.
Like Mangi, the former Disney employee was slammed with federal charges via the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a key piece of legislation used to prosecute breaches of access on the web.
The incidents are cautious reminders: regardless of how much you detest your boss, stay away from mischief that could hurt innocent people, even if your password still works after getting sacked. Our advice? It’s probably best to stick to the stapler in Jell-O.
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