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Recommended reading Remote IT worker scam involving 90 laptops and stolen identities generated $17 million in illicit revenue allegedly bound for North Korea's nuclear weapons program 'One of the most powerful DDoS botnets to ever exist' has been taken down by the DoJ with help from Amazon Web Services, Google, Cloudflare and others Gaming Industry French court finds 3 former Ubisoft executives guilty of workplace harassment A single guessed password has led to a cyberattack that put a fully insured 158-year-old company out of business despite security practices being up to code Byond game engine suffers a weeks-long DDoS attack, apparently because a wanna-be Bond villain is trying to force it to go open source: 'Attacks on Byond servers are a symptom of your obstinance' Alleged 3-person smuggling operation accused of shifting tens of millions of dollars’ worth of AI chips to China potentially faces up to 20-year prison sentence Gaming Mice Endgame Gear confirms it had malware-compromised mouse software on its official site but promises changes to prevent it happening again Gaming Industry Disgruntled coder who admitted to deploying a malware 'kill switch' to get back at his bosses sentenced to 4 years in prison Stevie Bonifield 24 August 2025 What's even worse than getting demoted? Jail time for hacking your employer. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Caroline Purser/Getty) After a total wait even longer than his prison sentence and being convicted in March, former software developer Davis Lu has finally been sentenced for a malware kill switch scheme he deployed in 2019. Lu will have to serve four years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. It's the end to a long saga that began with a frustration many are all too familiar with: a demotion. In 2018, the company Lu worked for as a senior software developer, Eaton Corporation, went through a corporate realignment. As a result, Lu was demoted. He stayed at the company until September 9, 2019, when he was finally put on leave and asked to return his company laptop. Lu had apparently been planning for this. When he was demoted, he "began sabotaging his employer's systems," according to the Department of Justice. Related Articles Remote IT worker scam involving 90 laptops and stolen identities generated $17 million in illicit revenue allegedly bound for North Korea's nuclear weapons program 'One of the most powerful DDoS botnets to ever exist' has been taken down by the DoJ with help from Amazon Web Services, Google, Cloudflare and others French court finds 3 former Ubisoft executives guilty of workplace harassment Lu's havoc on his former employer included malicious code that sparked system crashes, blocked logins, deleted files, and ultimately ended with a "kill switch" that, according to the DoJ, locked out all users if Lu's credentials were ever disabled. Lu even named the kill switch "IsDLEnabledinAD," short for "Is Davis Lu enabled in Active Directory." When Lu was put on leave, that kill switch automatically triggered. The kill switch and Lu's other malicious code resulted in "hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses" for his former employer. Now, it has also resulted in jail time for Lu, who was convicted in March. That conviction is not surprising since he straight up admitted to sabotaging his former employer all the way in October 2019. However, Lu didn't plead guilty and even reportedly designed his malicious code to make it look like it was coming from co-workers who took over his duties. Lu also deleted encrypted data from his company laptop before handing it over. But that clearly wasn't enough to stop the FBI from tying the cyber sabotage back to Lu. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releases Best PC games: Our all-time favorites Free PC games: Freebie fest Best FPS games: Finest gunplay Best RPGs: Grand adventures Best co-op games: Better together The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Stevie Bonifield Contributor Stevie Bonifield is a freelance tech journalist specializing in mobile tech, gaming gear, and accessories. Outside of writing, Stevie loves indie games, TTRPGs, and building way too many custom keyboards. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Remote IT worker scam involving 90 laptops and stolen identities generated $17 million in illicit revenue allegedly bound for North Korea's nuclear weapons program 'One of the most powerful DDoS botnets to ever exist' has been taken down by the DoJ with help from Amazon Web Services, Google, Cloudflare and others French court finds 3 former Ubisoft executives guilty of workplace harassment A single guessed password has led to a cyberattack that put a fully insured 158-year-old company out of business despite security practices being up to code Byond game engine suffers a weeks-long DDoS attack, apparently because a wanna-be Bond villain is trying to force it to go open source: 'Attacks on Byond servers are a symptom of your obstinance' Alleged 3-person smuggling operation accused of shifting tens of millions of dollars’ worth of AI chips to China potentially faces up to 20-year prison sentence Latest in Gaming Industry Bluesky goes dark in Mississippi over 'likely unconstitutional' age verification law 'I think the United States should be given 10% of Intel': US president Trump wants a piece of the action, says CEO Lip Bu Tan has already forked over $10 billion because he wants to 'keep his job' 'I hope all your cars break down': Destiny players bid good riddance to departing Bungie CEO Pete Parsons in a rare moment of unity 18 protesters arrested: Microsoft claims 'vandalism and property damage,' protesters claim 'genocide powered by Microsoft technology' Announcing The PC Gamer Streamer Showdown, broadcasting Sept 9-12 BioShock 4 studio lays off staff as former Diablo boss Rod Fergusson returns to get things back on track Latest in News Deadlock's latest character basically gets a portal gun, and his ult teleports enemies to a void hotel where they have to do a platforming challenge It's shaping up to be a crazy month for new games, with Indiana Jones' beefy-looking story DLC finally arriving on September 4 'I'm working on other stuff': Double Fine chief Tim Schafer squashes hopes for Psychonauts 3 any time soon Even in a year packed with great RPGs, you don't want to miss Disco Elysium-style time loop noir Rue Valley, which has a new trailer and a release date in November The new Lego Batman game will have more of Gotham City in it than Arkham Knight did Microsoft launches Copilot AI function in Excel, but warns not to use it in 'any task requiring accuracy or reproducibility' HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best Hall effect keyboards in 2025: the fastest, most customisable keyboards for competitive gaming Best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming in 2025: the only Gen 5 drives I will allow in my PC Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today's top cards Best gaming laptop in 2025: I've put the best of this new generation head-to-head and we have a winner Best gaming chair in 2025: I've tested a ton of gaming chairs and these are the seats I'd suggest for any PC gamer Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater review: Safe, but excellent Elgato 4K S review MSI Stealth 18 HX AI review MSI MPG CoreLiquid P13 360 review Asus ROG Falcata PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. 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