Twin brothers wipe 96 gov't databases minutes after being fired

[Zorro]

A case study in why credentials are revoked before firings.

In the US, fired and laid-off workers often have their digital credentials deactivated before they learn about the loss of their jobs; indeed, the inability to log in to a corporate system may be the first an employee knows of the situation.

Although not a generous or humane approach to staff reduction, it does follow from the simple fact that a fired employee with access to company systems is a security risk.

Just ask the Akhter twin brothers, accused of wiping out 96 databases hosting US government information in the minutes after both were fired last year from their shared employer.

DROP DATABASE

Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, now both 34, had been in trouble before. Back in 2015, the brothers pled guilty in Virginia to a scheme involving wire fraud and computers. Muneeb was sentenced to three years in prison, while Sohaib got two.

After their stints in jail, the brothers worked their way back into the tech world. In 2023, Muneeb got a job with a Washington, DC, firm that sold software and services to 45 federal clients; Sohaib got a job at the same company a year later.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/

[UpInArms]

1. Outsourcing

is really really stupid

[purr-rat beauty]

2. Coulda been just Fired...

....but now soon to be federal felons

[ChicagoTeamster]

3. AFter the first conviction, how the hell did they get a government job in computers?

[DavidDvorkin]

4. They didn't

The got jobs with a government contractor.

Which should not have hired them, obviously. Laxity on that company's part.

[DET]

6. Technically, They Didn't

They worked for a Government contractor, not a Government agency. But anyone with that level of access to Government systems should have had some type of security clearance, which would have uncovered their criminal history. Sounds like the contractor got really sloppy.

[AZJonnie]

9. What do you think the chances are that this contractor is buddies with IQ47 and donated to his campaign?

Does the article itself give the name of this sloppy contractor?

ETA: read down to the end to find out

Update: The company that employed the brothers went unnamed in court documents but was identified in the press as Opexus. An eagle-eyed Ars reader points out that, back in December, the company gave a series of quotes to Cyberscoop about the entire incident. Though Opexus did background checks, the company admitted that “additional diligence should have been applied,” it acknowledged that “the terminations were not handled in an appropriate manner,” and it said that “the individuals responsible for hiring the twins are no longer employed by Opexus.” Clearly, the failure here was all-encompassing.

[DET]

11. Wouldn't Surprise Me

Although not much does anymore. This company really needs to be investigated for its seemingly stunning lack of security protocols.

[appmanga]

5. This should be nothing more than a minor annoyance...

...if the organizations were creating backups as they're supposed to.

[Buckeyeblue]

8. Right. This is on the company the worked for not having adequate controls in place

[Susan Calvin]

7. Well, I'd rather they wiped them than stole the data.

Unless they did that first.

[niyad]

10. Based on the article, they stole a bunch of data first.