Data deleted by employee

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    • #11969 Reply
      Rapidvimal3829
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        Rapidvimal3829
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        April 19, 2025 at 8:39 am
        One of my friend deleted data after resigning from an organisation
        Company had lodged a FIR against friend and asked to report to police station
        What can be done by him to save himself he did it wrong but what should be next steps to save his career and not getting locked up.

      • #11995 Reply
        Expertraju3879
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          Expertraju3879
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          April 19, 2025 at 8:47 am
          NAL.

          In case of a crisis of this kind,

          – Lay low, deactivate all social media (if not delete it).
          – Hire a good lawyer to try and reduce the severity of consequences, because there are surely going to be quite a handful of those.

          Rest everything depends on the severity of damages caused to the company. If it was something business critical, he might be looking to pay heavy damages.

          • #12007 Reply
            Rapidvimal3829
            Participant
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              Rapidvimal3829
              OP
              April 19, 2025 at 8:51 am
              From where we can hire a lawyer?? Like can career be saved and can we get the releieving letter ?
              This FIR can destroy career? Can this FIR be deleted ??

              • #12013 Reply
                Superstar8277
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                  Superstar8277
                  PARTICIPANT
                  April 19, 2025 at 8:55 am
                  Entirely depends on what they deleted and how hard the company wants to pursue the matter.

                  Many organisations have means to reconstitute deleted data but those backups aren’t always real-time. If the was something business critical the friend is very likely fucked.

                • #12012 Reply
                  Vasantowl403
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                    Vasantowl403
                    PARTICIPANT
                    April 19, 2025 at 9:00 am
                    Yes Fir will destroy his career.

                    Have seen a case like this.

                    Company will file a case under corporate espionage which will show up in all the future background verification.
                    He won’t get a job for a considerable amount of time.

                    Imagine yourself as the hiring manager of a reputed organization.

                    You selected someone for a new role but the background verification report highlights that he sabotaged his previous employer and has a case going in the court.

                    Would you onboard the person ?

                    Ask the company to settle out of court and ask them if they can take back the FIR.
                    Also if there is no proof he did it ask him to disagree to all the accusations.

                    But if the company can prove it , suggest your friend to negotiate.

                    And tell him that in real world actions have consequences unless you are born to rich and powerful parents.

                  • #12011 Reply
                    Alphakritika6663
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                      Alphakritika6663
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                      April 20, 2025 at 4:20 am
                      Tell your friend to fall on his four beg for forgiveness. If he brings lawyer i would not have backed out. Ask lawyer to come like his uncle and try to settle.

                • #11994 Reply
                  Prokaur2115
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                    Prokaur2115
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                    April 19, 2025 at 9:00 am
                    What max you can do is delete your personal data from the employer laptop and maybe your saved codes and all but not from the cloud server or anything which is business critical
                    First thing you need to understand if you’re fired or leave by your choice the code you developed or anything you’ve done over the period of time you’re paid for those services or you’re compensated for that it’s not your property.

                    If your friend has done something that will impact business user or any way hamper their work then your friend is in deep trouble also when they’ll share any releaving letter they will mention it there about termination of employment and why it happened also in any background check if they have filed an FIR that’ll be visible and any future employer will ask about it for sure and future employer if reachout to the HR they’ll straight away told them about what your friend did.
                    It’s better to apologise and if it’s on cloud I am very much sure that can be retrieved very easily , that’s my way of thinking I am not sure what others think but take suggestions and do the right thing

                  • #11993 Reply
                    Alphabro1965
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                      Alphabro1965
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                      April 19, 2025 at 9:11 am
                      The best option is to try to settle with the company. Whether they will agree depends on many factors, including:

                      Nature of data deleted
                      Damage to the company
                      Relationship with managers and nature of departure
                      Who the employer is – if it is a big MNC or large Indian company, they most probably won’t show any flexibility

                    • #11992 Reply
                      Indiannarayana2669
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                        Indiannarayana2669
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                        April 19, 2025 at 10:56 am
                        Keep denying until and unless company has proof that he did it, hire a lawyer to get out of this mess. Come up with good excuses to get away with it

                      • #11991 Reply
                        Parishark763
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                          Parishark763
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                          April 19, 2025 at 11:53 am
                          Get better friends to start with.
                          Ask the douchebag to get a good lawyer.

                          • #12006 Reply
                            Mitalitiger266
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                              Mitalitiger266
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                              April 19, 2025 at 2:01 pm
                              OP did it himself I guess.

                          • #11990 Reply
                            Propanther6083
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                              Propanther6083
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                              April 19, 2025 at 12:06 pm
                              I don’t get where people get the confidence to pull shit like this with no political/monetary backing! If i delete data ik i have money to never want a job ever.

                              • #12005 Reply
                                Indianeagle4456
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                                  Indianeagle4456
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                                  April 19, 2025 at 1:11 pm
                                  Lol if any employee of mine pulls off shit like this i’d go to war with him to make sure that he suffers as much as possible, there’s zero chance i’d settle it with him out of court

                                  People like this should be made into an example

                                  • #12010 Reply
                                    Silentrajnish997
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                                      Silentrajnish997
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                                      April 19, 2025 at 2:11 pm
                                      What happened to your offsite backup strategy ?
                                      Heck I have a backup strategy for my home NAS.

                                • #11989 Reply
                                  Quickfalcon4139
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                                    Quickfalcon4139
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                                    April 19, 2025 at 12:18 pm
                                    NAL but so stupid of the company to not have a means to protect / retrieve data.

                                    • #12004 Reply
                                      Meganitin1228
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                                        Meganitin1228
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                                        April 19, 2025 at 12:52 pm
                                        You might be surprised how many IT systems don’t have proper backup systems in place. Sometimes even deleting a single row of data would require an entire database to be restored from the backup potentially wiping out other delta data that hasn’t been backed up yet.

                                      • #12003 Reply
                                        Rajivtiger585
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                                          Rajivtiger585
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                                          April 19, 2025 at 12:53 pm
                                          I’m sure the company has retrieved the data from a backup. They’re using this to teach your friend a lesson and they should

                                          • #12009 Reply
                                            Quickfalcon4139
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                                              Quickfalcon4139
                                              PARTICIPANT
                                              April 19, 2025 at 2:08 pm
                                              I don’t think so.

                                              If they have a backup, the data is safe, they didn’t lose it. So what is the purpose of legal action if there is no damage?

                                              • #12020 Reply
                                                Swiftwolf6373
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                                                  Swiftwolf6373
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                                                  April 19, 2025 at 2:24 pm
                                                  There was damage except they recovered it. If u beat up someone and they heal back to normal after a few days, does that mean that person cannot take legal action as there’s no “damage”?

                                                  • #12022 Reply
                                                    Quickfalcon4139
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                                                      Quickfalcon4139
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                                                      April 19, 2025 at 2:27 pm
                                                      Fair point.

                                                      • #12024 Reply
                                                        Ridhifalcon780
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                                                          Ridhifalcon780
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                                                          April 19, 2025 at 4:30 pm
                                                          Are kuch bhi mat bol, IT security laws are very strict and they make you sign load shit of documents. Even if you do slight changes without permission your in big trouble

                                                    • #12019 Reply
                                                      Ridhifalcon780
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                                                        Ridhifalcon780
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                                                        April 19, 2025 at 4:29 pm
                                                        Wtf you saying? Have you ever worked in IT, data is always backed up, but deleting data causes lot other issues like system going down for hours or days and that’s definately business loss. If you think you will delete data and nothing gonna happen then your idiot.

                                                      • #12018 Reply
                                                        Wisehawk7332
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                                                          Wisehawk7332
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                                                          April 19, 2025 at 5:59 pm
                                                          Doesn’t work that way. If you burn down someones house, the fact that it can be rebuilt doesn’t make the arson any less of a crime. Even if you compensate, it will remain a crime.

                                                          Similarly, deleting the files is an act of sabotage and the company being able to retrieve the data doesn’t make it less of a crime.

                                                          The purpose of legal action is to punish the culprit and set them as an example to deter others from trying the same.

                                                          In this case, this person can kiss his career good bye. Somebody got caught doing something similar at my previous company and his career ended after that. He was never able to get another white collar job.

                                                        • #12017 Reply
                                                          Alphakritika6663
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                                                            Alphakritika6663
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                                                            April 20, 2025 at 4:01 am
                                                            Time wasted on recovery is loss of business hours. aka money

                                                          • #12016 Reply
                                                            Desieagle7008
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                                                              Desieagle7008
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                                                              April 20, 2025 at 4:01 am
                                                              If you get punched in the face and the bruise healed, should the person be let off free because there’s no damages?

                                                              The work involved in restoring the data and the delays in operations while waiting for the work and the various problems and inconveniences experienced during and after that are all forms of damages.

                                                            • #12015 Reply
                                                              Alokpanda566
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                                                                Alokpanda566
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                                                                April 20, 2025 at 5:04 am
                                                                Well recovery can be costly.
                                                                My company didn’t have snowflake backup & they had to pay 25k$ to retrieve data just because the board deck data had many missing points

                                                        • #11988 Reply
                                                          Prosarat7440
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                                                            Prosarat7440
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                                                            April 19, 2025 at 12:20 pm
                                                            so this company had enough bandwidth and perseverance to go to police but not enough to have backups?

                                                            Your friend is a dick and hopefully it teaches him a lesson.

                                                            • #12002 Reply
                                                              Primeswati1093
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                                                                Primeswati1093
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                                                                April 23, 2025 at 7:37 am
                                                                They would have backup but will complain anyway. This is to set precedent and warn other employees.

                                                            • #11987 Reply
                                                              Surajowl792
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                                                                Surajowl792
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                                                                April 19, 2025 at 12:41 pm
                                                                I would unfriend such people.

                                                                Why would someone be so vindictive? What did he really achieve by deleting office data? Every office has several backups and imagecopy of important data.

                                                                Indians are anyway known globally for lack of ethics, your friend proved that even further.

                                                                • #12001 Reply
                                                                  Meganitin1228
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                                                                    Meganitin1228
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                                                                    April 19, 2025 at 12:56 pm
                                                                    I have been in IT for more than 15 years and have never come across such a person – that deleted data intentionally. So please stop stereotyping.

                                                                    • #12008 Reply
                                                                      Surajowl792
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                                                                        Surajowl792
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                                                                        April 19, 2025 at 5:02 pm
                                                                        Are you a fast reader or a bad reader? Becauase the OP did not mention “accidentally” deleted the data.

                                                                        • #12014 Reply
                                                                          Meganitin1228
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                                                                            Meganitin1228
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                                                                            April 19, 2025 at 5:53 pm
                                                                            I guess you read bad, I mentioned that I haven’t come across anyone that deleted intentionally. It means, that people delete by accident.

                                                                            • #12021 Reply
                                                                              Surajowl792
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                                                                                Surajowl792
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                                                                                April 20, 2025 at 6:27 am
                                                                                I believe your comprehension skills have become rusty. The OP mentioned his friend deleted company data. He did not mention if it was accidental, but, if it were, he would have definitely mentioned that the act was accidental and not intentional. People do not leave out the most important detail.

                                                                                • #12023 Reply
                                                                                  Rapidsomesh7084
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                                                                                    Rapidsomesh7084
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                                                                                    April 20, 2025 at 3:00 pm
                                                                                    He mentioned that his friend deleted the data after resigning, which clearly indicates that it was done on purpose unless you have reading comprehension of 10 yo.

                                                                        • #11986 Reply
                                                                          Rajivtiger585
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                                                                            Rajivtiger585
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                                                                            April 19, 2025 at 12:52 pm
                                                                            Your friend doesn’t have any leeway here except going back to the company and asking for forgiveness. Corporate espionage is a criminal offense and he will likely fail all his future background checks. His only option is to work in a company which is family run / startup where they don’t have funds to do proper background checks.

                                                                            Honestly, I don’t know if this was a mistake or a deliberate juvenile attempt at getting back at the company. If latter, you should dump your friend as he seems to be petty and fickle minded. No manager in their right mind would hire someone like that

                                                                          • #11985 Reply
                                                                            Calmakhil7043
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                                                                              Calmakhil7043
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                                                                              April 19, 2025 at 12:52 pm
                                                                              My 2 cents, make better friends!

                                                                              Delete the data, is it a child’s play going on !

                                                                              He deserves jail and fine for his deeds, I don’t support it !

                                                                              • #12000 Reply
                                                                                Fiercealok3524
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                                                                                  Fiercealok3524
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                                                                                  April 19, 2025 at 2:08 pm
                                                                                  Unless of course he is the friend.

                                                                              • #11984 Reply
                                                                                Calmshivam9794
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                                                                                  Calmshivam9794
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                                                                                  April 19, 2025 at 1:06 pm
                                                                                  Ok they need to prove intent … which is very difficult… wats stopping him from saying it was a mistake… unless tht idiot did not brag about it police will not take action… but he is an AH TBH

                                                                                  • #11999 Reply
                                                                                    Indianhawk6598
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                                                                                      Indianhawk6598
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                                                                                      April 19, 2025 at 3:39 pm
                                                                                      Data deletion happens lot more and it’s mostly by mistake. Unless he was stupid enough to run delete command on multiple tables which  got logged and prove intent.

                                                                                  • #11983 Reply
                                                                                    Rapidwolf6431
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                                                                                      Rapidwolf6431
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                                                                                      April 19, 2025 at 1:22 pm
                                                                                      Where is your friend located.
                                                                                      The idea is to get a good lawyer and ascertain under what all provisions has he been booked. It is also important to ascertain if moving an application seeking anticipatory bail is a good idea or not.

                                                                                    • #11982 Reply
                                                                                      Paragking331
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                                                                                        Paragking331
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                                                                                        April 19, 2025 at 1:28 pm
                                                                                        1. Your “friend” is doomed if your “friends” org has the audit logs which prove he did it.

                                                                                        2. Your “friends” company should suffer all of this mess if they’ve given RWS access on production data with no backups.

                                                                                        Ik someone who was in cisco who did this in US. Hes in jail now, FBI got involved in his case, he got a 2 year prison sentence, 1 year under surveillance after that. https://threatpost.com/cisco-employee-convicted-deleting-webex-accounts/162246/

                                                                                        Fortunately your “friend” is in India so may be it’ll take a few years before he actually gets jailed, but it’s inevitable.

                                                                                        • #11998 Reply
                                                                                          Ridhifalcon780
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                                                                                            Ridhifalcon780
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                                                                                            April 19, 2025 at 4:32 pm
                                                                                            Jail or no jail that’s long story but friend has finished his corporate career. There’s no way he even getting some call centre job now.

                                                                                          • #11997 Reply
                                                                                            Quickhero7759
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                                                                                              Quickhero7759
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                                                                                              April 20, 2025 at 8:20 am
                                                                                              Wow I went through the link and did some digging. That dude is still in USA, having his own startup now

                                                                                          • #11981 Reply
                                                                                            Calmsmriti9199
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                                                                                              Calmsmriti9199
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                                                                                              April 19, 2025 at 1:35 pm
                                                                                              This is the reason companies log employees out before termination

                                                                                            • #11980 Reply
                                                                                              Expertking2460
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                                                                                                Expertking2460
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                                                                                                April 19, 2025 at 2:29 pm
                                                                                                If the company has given access to multiple employees then it will be difficult for them to prove that your friend did anything. 

                                                                                                If they have the means to prove they did it, then company can file an fir under BNS 324 which has max punishment upto 5 years plus they can try to recover damages and legal fees etc. 

                                                                                                In any case, they will not be clearing your friend’s background checks for future jobs very easily. 

                                                                                                • #11996 Reply
                                                                                                  Alphakritika6663
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                                                                                                    Alphakritika6663
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                                                                                                    April 20, 2025 at 4:21 am
                                                                                                    Every action by everyone is logged in company systems.

                                                                                                • #11979 Reply
                                                                                                  Niravmaster142
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                                                                                                    Niravmaster142
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                                                                                                    April 19, 2025 at 3:48 pm
                                                                                                    “Asking for a friend” eh?

                                                                                                  • #11978 Reply
                                                                                                    Ridhifalcon780
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                                                                                                      Ridhifalcon780
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                                                                                                      April 19, 2025 at 4:27 pm
                                                                                                      First thing first, Start avoiding your friend. Stop contacting him

                                                                                                    • #11977 Reply
                                                                                                      Fiercehawk3418
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                                                                                                        Fiercehawk3418
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                                                                                                        April 19, 2025 at 5:29 pm
                                                                                                        Get new friends, his career is over.

                                                                                                      • #11976 Reply
                                                                                                        Swiftking6319
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                                                                                                          Swiftking6319
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                                                                                                          April 19, 2025 at 8:50 pm
                                                                                                          fuck around and find out.

                                                                                                        • #11975 Reply
                                                                                                          Alphakritika6663
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                                                                                                            Alphakritika6663
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                                                                                                            April 20, 2025 at 4:00 am
                                                                                                            FAFO. Tell him Learn to beg like his life depends on it. He deserves it.

                                                                                                          • #11974 Reply
                                                                                                            Urbanshashank2362
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                                                                                                              Urbanshashank2362
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                                                                                                              April 20, 2025 at 4:13 am
                                                                                                              Lawyer up, If it’s a big organisation then his career might get bashed up and based on what court decides, the punishment.

                                                                                                              Also just curious, what is the level of exp. he had…!!??

                                                                                                            • #11973 Reply
                                                                                                              Swiftwolf5826
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                                                                                                                Swiftwolf5826
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                                                                                                                April 20, 2025 at 6:48 am
                                                                                                                He fucked around and found out. Get a very expensive lawyer and say good bye to mental peace for a few years.

                                                                                                              • #11972 Reply
                                                                                                                Simranguru453
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                                                                                                                  Simranguru453
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                                                                                                                  April 20, 2025 at 10:23 am
                                                                                                                  Flea from country.

                                                                                                                • #11971 Reply
                                                                                                                  Subhashshark164
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                                                                                                                    Subhashshark164
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                                                                                                                    April 20, 2025 at 6:27 pm
                                                                                                                    Such a dumb company is better shut down anyway.

                                                                                                                  • #11970 Reply
                                                                                                                    Neelowl410
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                                                                                                                      Neelowl410
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                                                                                                                      April 24, 2025 at 9:10 am
                                                                                                                      Having working in IT orgs, I can say that what your friend did is something very stupid. All company/work data belongs to the organization, they have ownership and copyright over it. All software code is written and saved on company hardware or infrastructure. Destroying any such data without permission is legally punishable.

                                                                                                                      As others have said, chances are the data was backed up and probable restored by now. But that is immaterial as the company can legally go after your friend for data crimes he has committed. And why should any company not get angry at this potential loss or destruction of their IP.

                                                                                                                      Best chances is to approach the company and ask for forgiveness and pay a fine/compensation to withdraw the FIR. Once it gets into FIR and court stage, your friend would never get a job again in IT (he would fail any background check and no other IT firm would want to hire someone who has destroyed company data.) nor would be able to get a Passport (or even a Visa, incase he somehow manages to get a Passport, as countries always ask if any criminal cases are filed, in their visa applications.)

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