Brooklyn Woman Pleads Guilty to Unauthorized Intrusion into Credit Union’s Computer System

 

The Defendant Destroyed More Than 20 Gigabytes of Data, Including Financial Records, in Retaliation for Being Fired

 Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Juliana Barile pleaded guilty to one count of computer intrusion arising from the defendant’s unauthorized intrusion into, and destruction of data on, the computer system of a New York credit union (the “Credit Union”) following her termination as an employee of the Credit Union.  The guilty plea took place before United States District Judge Eric N. Vitaliano.  When sentenced, Barile faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine. 

Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the guilty plea.

“In an act of revenge for being terminated, Barile surreptitiously accessed the computer system of her former employer, a New York Credit Union, and deleted mortgage loan applications and other sensitive information maintained on its file server,” stated Acting U.S. Attorney Kasulis.  “Protecting private financial data from being compromised or destroyed by unauthorized computer intrusions is an important priority of this Office.”  Ms. Kasulis also thanked New York City Police Department for their valuable assistance with the case.

“Ms. Barile may have thought she was getting back at her employer by deleting files, however she did just as much harm to customers.  Her petty revenge not only created a huge security risk for the bank, but customers also depending on paperwork and approvals to pay for their homes were left scrambling,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll.  “An insider threat can wreak just as much havoc, if not more, than an external criminal. The bank and customers are now faced with the tremendous headache of fixing one employee's selfish actions.”

According to court filings, Barile was fired from her position as a part-time employee with the Credit Union on May 19, 2021.  Two days later, on May 21, 2021, Barile remotely accessed the Credit Union’s file server and deleted more than 20,000 files and almost 3,500 directories, totaling approximately 21.3 gigabytes of data.  The deleted data included files related to mortgage loan applications and the Credit Union’s anti-ransomware protection software.  Barile also opened confidential files.  After she accessed the computer server without authorization and destroyed files, Barile sent text messages to a friend explaining that “I deleted their shared network documents,” referring to the Credit Union’s share drive.  To date, the Credit Union has spent approximately $10,000 in remediating Barile’s unauthorized intrusion and destruction of data.