NEWARK, N.J. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man appeared in federal court last week for attempted data extortion of his former employer.
According to prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Daniel Rhyne, 57, worked for an industrial company based in Somerset County, New Jersey, as a core infrastructure engineer.
Prosecutors allege Rhyne gained unauthorized access to the company’s computer systems last November through an administrator’s account. He then changed the company administrator’s passwords and began shutting down the computer servers, among other network tasks.
On Nov. 25, 2023, certain employees received an extortion email, threatening to delete or shut down company servers over a 10-day period unless Rhyne was paid 20 Bitcoin, worth approximately $750,000 at the time.
Investigators said Rhyne controlled the email address used to send the extortion email to his employer.
Rhyne was arrested in Missouri on Tuesday, August 27. He made an initial court appearance the following day in Kansas City federal court and was released pending trial.
Rhyne was charged with one count of extortion in relation to a threat to cause damage to a protected computer, one count of intentional damage to a protected computer, and one count of wire fraud.
If convicted, Rhyne faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for extortion, 10 years and a $250,000 fine for intentional damage to a computer, and up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine for wire fraud.
