Fired Federal Contractor Convicted of Wiping 96 Databases

A federal jury just convicted a 34-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia, of conspiring to wipe 96 government databases at the contractor he was fired from. The wrinkle: he was a previously convicted hacker, and his employer's background checks didn't catch it. Sohaib Akhter and his twin brother Muneeb were engineers at Opexus, a DC software company whose case-management and FOIA-tracking software runs at more than 45 federal agencies. Both brothers pled guilty in 2015 to hacking the State Department and other federal systems — Sohaib served 24 months, Muneeb 39. Per CyberScoop, Opexus has said its background checks went back seven years, and the brothers' 2015 felonies fell outside that window. After the FDIC flagged the convictions in February 2025, Opexus fired both over a virtual HR meeting. Prosecutors say Muneeb started deleting databases during the meeting itself; within several hours, roughly 96 databases were wiped, including a Department of Homeland Security database and the FOIA tracking systems used by multiple agencies. Every FOIA request submitted to certain agencies between February 14th and February 18th is permanently gone. About a minute after deleting one Homeland Security database, Muneeb allegedly asked an AI tool how to clear system logs. Sources: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/former-govt-contractor-convicted-for-wiping-dozens-of-federal-databases/ https://therecord.media/virginia-man-found-guilty-deleting-96-gov-databases https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-jury-convicts-virgina-man-charges-relating-deletion-us-government-databases https://cyberscoop.com/opexus-background-checks-insider-attack-muneeb-sohaib-akhter/ More on cybersecurity, privacy, scams, and homelab on Hake Hardware. New shorts every weekday. #cybersecurity #insiderthreat #federalcontractor