Fired Disney Employee Pleads Guilty to Hacking Menus – Altering Allergy Info, Mass Shooting Locations Added. Michael Scheuer, previously a “Menu Production Manager” at Disney, is facing charges related to hacking a third-party menu creation system. As part of the plea agreement, Scheuer will pay Disney restitution for damages caused by the hack and a fine set by the government. He has also forfeited a computer believed to be used in the crime.
In a follow-up to our initial article in October, a disgruntled former Disney employee has admitted to hacking the company’s menu system, according to a newly filed plea agreement obtained by 404 Media and Courtwatch.com.
New Details Emerge in Plea Agreement
The plea agreement sheds light on new details of the hack. Scheuer reportedly manipulated allergen information on menus, adding false entries that indicated certain menu items were safe for those with peanut allergies. The original criminal complaint states that these alterations could have been deadly:
The complaint alleges that NAMED, shortly after his dismissal, used his prior login credentials to manipulate the system in several ways. Accessing menu-creation software on the heels of his termination and making the changes to Disney restaurant menus over three months. These included: Price Changes and Profanity – The menus reportedly displayed altered pricing and inappropriate language. Fonts – In a particularly disruptive move, (Blank) allegedly changed all fonts to Wingdings, rendering menus unreadable and causing the system to crash temporarily.
More importantly, the court records show the person tried to manipulate allergy warnings. The complaint alleges (Blank) tampered with allergy information, potentially putting guests with peanut allergies at risk. Thankfully, Disney identified and isolated these altered menus before distribution.
Court documents reveal that Scheuer not only altered allergy information but also made other disruptive changes. He modified wine region labels to reference locations of mass shootings and even added a swastika symbol to one menu. Additionally, Scheuer admitted to leaking login credentials for the menu system onto the dark web and incorporating profanity and Wingdings fonts into the menus.
Scheuer’s Lawyer Cites Mental Health Issues.
Scheuer’s lawyer, David Haas, attributes his client’s actions to mental health issues exacerbated by his termination from Disney upon returning from paternity leave. Haas maintains that no one was ever placed at risk of injury and that Scheuer is remorseful for his actions.
Furthermore, Scheuer tried Denial of Service (DOS) attacks on several former co-workers, a total of 14 employees’ computers, which only stopped when the Feds first made contact with the defendant.
Disney has since changed the way the menu approval system is done: The plea agreement says that Disney no longer uses the third-party menu creation application that Scheuer hacked into. The company “has moved to a manual menu approval and distribution process while a new system is developed.” Importently Disney had previously said that NO guests were actually in danger! The menus were found prior to being released.
Fired Disney Employee Pleads Guilty to Hacking Menus – Altering Allergy Info, Mass Shooting Locations Added
