A former employee of a New Jersey-based industrial company has been sentenced to 32 months in federal prison for launching a computer network attack and attempting to extort his former employer. Daniel Rhyne, 59, of Kansas City, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp on September 28, 2026, at federal court in Trenton, New Jersey. The sentence followed his guilty plea to charges involving extortion through a threat to damage a protected computer and intentional damage to a protected computer.
According to court documents and statements made during the proceedings, Rhyne previously worked as a core infrastructure engineer for the U.S.-based industrial company, identified in court records as Victim-1. While he was living in New Jersey in November 2023, he allegedly began preparing a plan to disrupt the company’s computer network and force it to pay a ransom. His position reportedly gave him technical knowledge and access that allowed him to plan the attack against the company’s critical systems.
As part of the scheme, Rhyne initiated unauthorized remote desktop sessions and scheduled tasks designed to damage the company’s network. The planned actions included deleting network administrator accounts, changing passwords linked to other employee accounts and shutting down several company servers. These steps could have seriously disrupted business operations by preventing authorized staff from accessing systems and interrupting essential digital services.
On November 25, 2023, Rhyne sent an extortion email to employees of the industrial company. In the message, he threatened to continue shutting down servers unless the company paid approximately 20 bitcoin. At the time, the cryptocurrency demand was valued at about $750,000. The case highlights how former employees with detailed knowledge of internal infrastructure can pose a significant cybersecurity risk, especially when access controls and administrative privileges are not promptly reviewed after employment ends.
The investigation was conducted by special agents from the FBI’s Newark Field Office, with assistance from the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office. U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced the sentence, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Taj Moore of the Cybercrime Unit prosecuted the case. The conviction demonstrates that unauthorized access, deliberate disruption of computer networks and ransom demands can result in substantial federal prison sentences. It also underlines the importance of removing former employees’ access, monitoring remote sessions and protecting administrator accounts against misuse.
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