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ORLANDO, Fla. — In a federal criminal complaint, a former worker at Walt Disney World is accused of hacking servers at the theme park’s restaurants after being fired and of manipulating computer menus by changing prices, adding profanities and altering notifications to wrongly declare some items as safe for people with allergies.
What You Need To Know
- A former employee is accused in a criminal complaint of hacking servers for Walt Disney World’s restaurants
- According to the federal complaint, ex-worker Michael Scheuer wanted to change computer menus
- Disney said changes made to its menus before they were shipped included allergen information with “potentially fatal consequences”
- An attorney for the person accused, Michael Scheuer, said his client intends to plead not guilty after an indictment has been filed
The former employee, identified in the complaint as Michael Scheuer, was arrested last week following an investigation by the FBI.
His court-appointed attorney, David Haas, said Thursday that his client intended to plea not guilty once a formal indictment has been filed. In the meantime, he was being held in jail until at least a bond hearing set for next week.
In a motion seeking his release, Haas said that his client had struggled with mental health issues since childhood and was currently seeing a psychiatrist.
“He is not receiving any mental health counseling or treatment in jail,” the attorney said in the motion.
Disney said Thursday it wasn’t commenting on the case. Disney caught the changes before the menus were shipped to restaurants, including the allergen information, with “potentially fatal consequences depending on the severity of the customers’ allergies,” the complaint said.
Disney was forced to take its menu creation program offline for more than a week, and the company said the attacks cost at least $150,000.
An internal investigation by Disney determined that the worker who was fired last June from his job as a menu production manager was a potential suspect. The termination was “contentious and not considered to be amicable,” and his job responsibilities included the creation and publishing of menus for the company’s entire restaurant portfolio, the criminal complaint said.
Only workers in his position or similar positions “would have the accesses and knowledge to carry out the attacks,” the complaint said.
Scheuer denied any wrongdoing when FBI agents searched his house last month.
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