Reverse Hacker Shawn Carpenter was recently awarded 4.3 million for wrongful termination. He worked at Sandia National Laboratories as an intrusion detection analyst and ended up fired for a probe that he did over a network security breach.
The breach occurred in 2003, and after discovering the attacks and reporting them to his superiors, he went to the FBI and the U.S. Army because what he discovered was sensitive documents found hidden on a server in South Korea, and information associated with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. He was fired for “inappropriately sharing confidential information.”
Representing Carpenter was Attorney Phillip Davis who says that the recent verdict is “vindication of his decision to do the right thing and turn over the information he obtained to the proper federal authorities in the interests of national security.”
Did he do the right thing? Well, that’s for you to decide. I’d say absolutely.Carpenter says he probably won’t ever see the money, and if he does, it’s coming from taxpayers anyways.
I’ll leave you with a few interesting comments I came across over at Slashdot:
Comment by Short Circuit
What he did was arguably in a gray area…on his own time, he used “hacker techniques” (not my preferred wording, sorry. Read the article.) to track down stolen data on foreign sites. That he turned his results over to the FBI is good, even if it screwed over Sandia.
Comment by crush
On his own admission Carpenter performed the following un-ethical behaviors:
- Disobeyed orders from his superiors
- Worked with army intelligence [time.com] in direct contravention of federal rules
- Cracked other people’s machines in order to obtain information.
Comment by Mysticalfruit
This is what we know.
1. This guy found an intrusion on his network, which because he was their network guy he was being employed to do.
2. He informed his employer that sensitive data was being stolen.
3. His employers did nothing because they’re incompetent nitwits.
4. He, being a good American did what he was supposed to do and tracked down the people who stole the secrets and reported it to the FBI.
5. His bosses, now with egg all over their faces, fired him because he showed they were in fact incompetent nitwits.
Source: Computer World
Why wont he ever see the money?
Love your blog by the way…Im one of those quit readers who never post. hehe I’m usually the first reader. 
Hey, thanks for reading!Always feel free to comment
As for why he won’t see the money, I think Sandia is expected to appeal and turn it into a long drawn out process. He didn’t seem very hopeful that he’d be seeing that money.
Cool. That’s what I kinda figured but needed reassurance.
Keep on blogging. I’ll keep on reading. Do you cover social networks? Any interviews?
We’ll touch social networks here and there. The most recent social network mentioned is [tech.cybernetnews.com] networks&submit=Search It’s similar to MySpace but realy focuses on media like music and movies.
I agree with Mysticalfruit. Shawn Carpenter went above-and-beyond the call-of-duty to protect national security because it was the right thing to do. His bosses are idiots and they should be fired for, if not allowing the security breach, allowing it to continue.
Shawn Carpenter remind me of Jack Bauer of 24. You do the right thing and get crapped on by your bosses.
This guy busted open a major Chinese cyberespionage ring, on his own time, and he gets fired for it. They should give the guy a medal.
Maybe Homeland Security should step in and thank the guy!
Great posting – thanks for sharing! From the articles I’ve found, including the Computerworld Q&A, it sounds like this place has a very questionable working environment. The ex-CIA guy that threatened his wife and threatened him with decapitation should be canned. I’d be amazed if he still working there. It make no sense that Sandia fire him when he goes to the FBI and army. It sound like he try to do the right thing, but they can him because they don’t want to hide something. I hope he gets every penny of it, and they don’t drag out for years. This guy is hero in my book!
Wow, I haven’t heard about the ex-CIA guy that threatened his wife and him with decapitation. That’s terrible!
Sounds like he should be the one in jail.