Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court sentenced a government employee to a year in prison and a Dh273,552 fine for hacking into his company server, forging his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and promoting himself twice.
The defendant, who has a high-school degree and a diploma in computer science, started his public sector job as a technician. He worked in this position for six years until he was deemed physically unfit to do so.
He was made an administrator in another department. Within a short time, he was promoted as head of the section and worked in this position for five years.
The defendant, however, felt the need to hack into the human resource department’s server to change his records and make himself "physically fit" for a technical job requiring more senior qualifications than the ones he possessed.
He added a fake bachelor’s and master’s degree to his employee record apart from several training courses. He ended up being promoted.
Despite getting away the first time, the defendant decided to ensure he got a higher-ranked job and proceeded to access the server again to ensure he got a second promotion.
However, suspicions were raised as company policy prevented a employee from being promoted within a period of less than four years in a position. An investigation into the defendant’s case resulted in a court hearing leading to conviction.
