When an employee leaves, the problem isn’t just who will replace them. In the digital world, the real risk is what they might leave behind. And I’m not talking about messy desks, but about kill switches, hidden access, and outright digital traps.
Consider the case of Davis Lu, an engineer at Eaton Corporation, who, after being fired, activated a secret code that shut down the company’s systems, causing millions of dollars in damage. It was like an emergency switch—but in reverse: instead of protecting, it paralyzed everything.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is that many companies fool themselves into thinking that simply changing a password is enough. But if an employee had the time to create backdoors, hidden automatisms, or self-destruct mechanisms, you’re left with a ticking time bomb.
This isn’t just about revenge. Often, management errors occur: credentials left active, forgotten accesses, critical systems dependent on a single person. In short, huge oversights that can turn into disasters.
The solution? Ironclad access rules. Give everyone only the permissions they strictly need, continuously monitor them, and immediately revoke all access when someone leaves the company. And above all, ensure that an entire infrastructure doesn’t depend on the digital keys of a single person.
Because in the digital world, true power isn’t found in a top-floor office—it’s in a well-placed line of code.
