Cyber consultant arrested for IT firm extortion by US authorities

TLDR:

• Vincent Cannady, a former cybersecurity consultant, was arrested for extorting $1.5 million from a New York-based IT firm.
• Cannady downloaded confidential information after being fired and demanded payment for employment discrimination.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of former cybersecurity consultant Vincent Cannady, who allegedly extorted $1.5 million from a New York-based multinational IT infrastructure services provider where he was assigned by a staffing company to address possible network security issues. Cannady downloaded trade secrets and other confidential information using a company-issued laptop after being fired for performance-related issues. He demanded payment from the firm for employment discrimination, with the possibility of imprisonment for up to 20 years if found guilty of extortion charges. Cannady later removed access to his laptop from the staffing firm and attempted to disclose the stolen information through regulatory filings and the media. The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have urged software firms to eliminate path traversal vulnerabilities in their products prior to shipping to prevent similar incidents in the future.