IT Director Turned Hacker Gets 2 Years in Prison

A Richmond, Va., man was sentenced to 27 months in prison Oct. 29 after pleading guilty to hacking his former employer's Website.

A former IT director was sentenced Oct. 29 to 27 months in federal prison for hacking a company's Website after the company fired him.

Darnell H. Albert-El, 53, of Richmond, Va., pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally damaging a protected computer without authorization. He was also ordered to pay $6,700 in restitution to his former employer, Transmarx LLC.

According to court documents, Albert-El was fired from his position at Transmarx. While there, he had administrator-level access to the Transmarx network, which included the company Website hosted on a computer system in Suwanee, Ga., authorities said. In his plea, Albert-El admitted that on July 25, 2008, he used a personal computer and an administrator account and password to access the computer hosting the Transmarx Website.

After accessing the computer, he deleted roughly 1,000 files related to the site because he was angry at being fired, authorities said.