Communications of the ACM
County IT Supervisor Is Accused of Mining Bitcoin at the Office
Naples was allegedly running a cryptocurrency mining operation out of the County Center in Riverhead, N.Y.
Credit: Riverhead Local
Christopher Naples was charged on Wednesday (September 8) with using his position as an IT supervisor for Suffolk County, N.Y., to mine cryptocurrency from government offices, costing the county thousands of dollars in electricity.
Prosecutors said that Naples, 42, had hidden 46 specialized devices used to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in six rooms in the Suffolk County Center in Riverhead, including underneath floorboards and inside an unused electrical panel.
At least 10 of the machines had been running since February, costing Suffolk County more than $6,000, prosecutors said. One room in which Naples had placed the devices had critically important computer servers and other equipment for the entire county. The temperature in that room had dropped 20 degrees shortly after the devices were disabled, officials said.
Naples, assistant manager of information technology operations, has worked for Suffolk County since 2000. He was charged with public corruption, grand larceny, computer trespass, and official misconduct.
From The New York Times
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