A 32-year-old Johannesburg man was found guilty on Monday of loading a virus on to the computers of Edgars, an act which the company claims cost it R20-million and affected up to 700 stores.
Because the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act governing what employees may legally do with company computers is not yet in force, Berend Howard of Morningside Manor was charged with malicious damage to Edcon property.
Companies falling under the Edcon umbrella include Edgars, Sales House and Jet Stores.
The court heard that Howard had been in temporary employment at the company but had a grudge against the group for outsourcing its information technology maintenance and support work.
A malicious software programme — a virus — was created and loaded on to the mainframe at Edgars’ head office in Edgardale, Johannesburg, between April and May in 1999, bringing the computer system, including workstations and speed points at stores linked to the mainframe, to a virtual standstill.
Eighty percent of the details for stores in South Africa were deleted, customer sales had to be entered manually and hard drives were damaged.
It took a team of 30 people to rectify the problem and the loss, disputed by Howard’s defence, was put at R20-million.
Investigators found a ”trail” leading to Howard’s personal computer and he was arrested.
Evidence in mitigation of sentence will be presented on July 29. — Sapa