Disney employee fired, pleads guilty in Peanuts hacking scandal

Former disney The company is accused of hacking the company’s restaurant menu creation software and falsely claiming that certain foods did not contain potentially deadly allergens, such as peanuts, according to a court filing Friday. It has been revealed that an employee has agreed to plead guilty in a federal criminal case.

Defendant Michael Scheuer also made other changes to Disney restaurant menus, including changing the font, leaving some pages blank, and changing information about wine to replace the region with the location of a “recent mass shooting.” He is also accused of making changes to the website, the documents state.

In one instance, Mr. Scheier added a “swastika” to a menu, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Orlando, Florida. He agreed to plead guilty to two felonies: computer fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The news site Court Watch first reported on the plea deal.

Changes he made to menu allergen information “focused on peanut, tree nut, shellfish, and milk allergens,” according to the filing.

“While Schuur has added claims to menu items indicating they are safe for people with certain allergies, this change could have potentially fatal consequences depending on the type and severity of the customer’s allergies.” is stated in the submitted documents.

It is believed that “some” of the modified menus were ultimately printed, but “all modified menus are believed to have been identified and quarantined” before being shipped to Disney restaurants. ”.

The plea agreement states that Disney will no longer use the third-party menu creation application that Schuer hacked. The company has “moved to a manual menu approval and distribution process while developing the new system.”

Schuer was fired as menu production manager last June.

The plea agreement states that in August, Scheuer launched a cyberattack aimed at “persistently locking” Disney employees from their company’s online accounts.

Many of the 14 employees targeted in the so-called denial-of-service attack had some interaction with Schuer while he worked for the company.

Federal agents searched Scheuer’s residence on Sept. 23, according to the filing. The denial of service attack stopped minutes before agents first made contact with him and did not resume after the computers were seized, according to the filing.

A criminal complaint filed in October accuses him of accessing menu creation software shortly after he was fired and making changes to Disney restaurant menus over a three-month period.

According to the plea agreement, about a month after the attack, Scheuer visited the residence of one of the targets of the DOS attack. Security camera footage shows him parking in front of the target’s home at night, walking up to the front door, examining the label on the package outside the door, and returning to his car “giving a thumbs up to the camera.” There is. The submitted document stated:

“This incident occurred after Mr. Scheuer received notice of a search warrant executed against his Google account by federal agents earlier in the day,” the plea agreement states. .

Because of the incident, Disney provided security for the victim, including removing him from his home and confining him in a hotel, the filing states.

Schuur’s attorney, David Haas, told CNBC that his client will enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks.

“Mr. Scheuer is prepared to accept responsibility for his actions,” Haas said. “Unfortunately, he had mental health issues that were exacerbated by Disney firing him upon his return from parental leave.”

“No one was ever at risk of injury and he deeply regrets what happened.”

Mr. Haas said Mr. Schuer was fired because he opposed changes to the restaurant’s menu creation system.

Mr. Haas said Mr. Scheyer would be subject to a restitution order and a fine if sentenced. The amount of financial loss to Disney has not yet been determined, but it will affect the range of his recommended prison sentence.