Following his indictment last week by a federal grand jury, a Louisiana man was arrested on Wednesday to face charges of intentionally damaging protected computers belonging to his former employer.
Brian Johnson, 43, was an IT specialist and systems administrator at Georgia-Pacific, a manufacturer of tissue, paper, building products and related chemicals which experienced “multiple system failures as a result of continued attacks believed to have been instigated by Johnson,” a Department of Justice release said.
The attacks allegedly started the day Johnson was fired on February 14, 2014 and continued through February 27, 2014, in which “computer systems were attacked from a computer address assigned to Johnson,” DOJ said. According to court documents, filed June 25, the attacks “knowingly caused the transmission of programs, information, code, and commands,” and resulted in more than $5,000 in losses for Georgia-Pacific.
If convicted, Johnson could face up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Court documents said that, if he is found guilty, Johnson will also be forced to forfeit property seized from his home in February 2014 – a hard drive, central processing unit (CPU), router and USB modem.
