Did you know using stolen passwords can get you into legal trouble? 
On Dec. 30, the Department of Justice said Ticketmaster will pay a $10 million fine for using stolen passwords and other proprietary information. The US ticket sales company will have to maintain a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the law and theft.
What happened? Ticketmaster hired a competitor’s former executive who had signed a separation agreement not to share confidential information. Despite the agreement, he shared business plans, client lists, user names, passwords and more. 
He aimed to “choke off” the victim company and “steal back” clients.
The FBI’s William F. Sweeney said, “When employees walk out of one company and into another, it’s illegal for them to take proprietary information. Ticketmaster used stolen information to gain an advantage over its competition and promoted the employees who broke the law.” These laws protect us from being cheated.
What can we learn from this? If you sign a nondisclosure agreement, take it seriously. The DOJ will. If you’re a business owner, don’t allow employees to use stolen information or damage or steal from your competitors. It can cost you or your company.
To see the full DOJ statement visit: www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/ticketmaster-pays-10-million-criminal-fine-intrusions-competitor-s-computer-systems-0