Unusual Case: How Raytheon Discovered Systems Engineer Was an 'Insider Threat'

It's kind of like people who run drugs and get busted because they're doing 90 mph down the highway. 

Why break the law when you're doing something else illegal?

It's just not smart.

In this case, a 65-year-old systems engineer got busted for time card fraud, and that investigation is what revealed he was an insider threat, illegally downloading documents and data from his job at military contractor Raytheon.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ahmedelhadi Yassin Serageldin allegedly took every Friday off for months while his time card claimed he was working. That led to an investigation around his hours worked and, surprise, the company realized he was a rogue employee. 

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Serageldin was an insider threat with a secret-level security clearance, working on military radar technology.

Now he is charged with interfering in the investigation of a federal offense by doing the following things, according to the DOJ indictment:

• Claiming that he was working on company business at home and that he was authorized to do so;
• Misrepresenting why and when he had downloaded files from Raytheon’s network;
• Falsely denying that he possessed an external hard drive or thumb drive and then later making fraudulent and misleading statements about how he had used an external hard drive;
• Falsely denying that he possessed any Raytheon records or classified documents at his residence;
• Delaying the production of his Western Digital external hard drive and a personal laptop computer to Raytheon investigators, which both contained information pertaining to his work at Raytheon on U.S. military programs;
• Accessing the files on, and changing the content of, his Maxell thumb drive despite having been instructed not to do so; and
• Delaying delivery of his personal laptop computer to Raytheon so he could conduct research on how to wipe his personal laptop clean.

The suspect, who was charged by the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office, faces up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

There's a good chance he's now regretting his decision to take so many Fridays off.

[MORE: Ultimate Insider Threat: Even the IT Security Manager Was in on It and Ponemon on Insider Threats: Companies Err on the Side of Goodness]