Fired Disney employee allegedly hacked restaurant menu to remove peanut allergy information and add profanity

Fired Disney employee hacked theme park menu: Complaint

A fired Walt Disney World Resort employee allegedly hacked the restaurant’s menu software by adding profanity or removing serious allergy information, the FBI alleges in a criminal complaint. None of those changes passed safety checks and were never shown to theme park guests, the complaint says, but the risk was there. The man’s lawyer said his client had not harmed anyone and that he looked forward to defending him in court.

And they fired Disney the employee faces federal assembly after allegedly hacking into one of the company’s computer systems and removing life-saving allergy information from restaurant menus. The complaint said none of the changes affected the print or digital version of the menu, but the company said the damages exceeded $150,000.

Disney is not specifically mentioned in the federal complaint, but is instead described as a “media and entertainment company” called “Company A.” However, David Hass, the attorney for the defendant, Michael Scheuer, confirmed to FOX 35 that his client’s former employer was Disney.

FOX 35 reached out to Disney on Thursday for comment.

According to the complaint, on June 13, 2024, Scheuer was fired as a menu production manager for “inappropriate conduct.” His dismissal was “controversial and … not considered peaceful,” the complaint said.

Scheuer was responsible for the creation and distribution of all of the company’s restaurant menus, including digital menus.

The complaint alleged that Scheuer, described as a “dangerous actor,” “made several changes to the menu that endangered public health and safety.”

“Namely, the attacker manipulated the allergen information on the menu by adding information to some of the allergen notifications that indicated that certain menu items were safe for people with peanut allergies, when in fact they could be deadly for those with peanut allergies. peanuts,” the complaint states.

He also allegedly added profanity and changed the prices of some menu items, according to the complaint. He is also accused of sending multiple login requests, sometimes known as a DDoS or denial-of-service attack, that prevented more than a dozen employees from accessing their accounts and systems.

The FBI raided Scheuer’s home on September 23, seizing at least four computers.

According to the complaint, he denied any involvement or wrongdoing by the FBI and claimed that “Company A tried to frame him because they were worried about him and the terms under which he was fired.”

Here is a statement from the husband’s attorney, David Haas:

“The criminal charges confirm that no one was hurt or harmed by any of the menu changes. Mr. Scheuer has a disability that has affected his work at Disney. He had a medical case that kept him suspended,” he said.

“Disney then did not respond to his inquiries as to why he was suspended, and then his suspension was inexplicably changed to termination. Disney declined to answer why he was fired and did not make any accommodations for him. He subsequently filed a complaint with the EEOC. I look forward to vigorously presenting my client’s side of the story.”

Disney did not respond to FOX 35’s request for comment.

Although he was surprised the FBI was at the home, the man told agents he wouldn’t be surprised if the sheriff’s office visited him about “sending emails that could be perceived as threatening,” according to the complaint. The complaint did not provide details about those emails.

In the complaint, the entertainment company said none of the changes affected print or digital menus, but it has cost the company at least $150,000 in damages so far. The complaint claimed that this was a conservative estimate and is still being determined.

Scheuer was charged with one count each of knowingly causing the transmission of a program, information, code or command to a protected computer and causing intentional unauthorized damage over $5,000.