Former Disney employee accused of hacking menu creation system, changing allergen information

A former Disney employee is accused of hacking the computer system that Walt Disney World uses to create its menus.

The company fired Michael Scheuer for misconduct in June, according to court records. He then, according to the FBI hacked the computer system, making changes to the company’s restaurant menus.

Disney was not named in the court filing but CourtWatch in partnership with 404 Media, a site that bills itself as an “independent technology investigations site” confirmed with Scheuer’s attorney that the company was Disney.

He had been a Walt Disney World menu production manager and had the job of publishing all the menus for the company. It was a proprietary computer system developed by a third-party for Disney, CourtWatch reported.

Despite his termination, he still accessed the software from his personal devices over three months, changing prices and adding profanity. CourtWatch reported Scheuer also changed menu fonts to Windings instead of readable text, which alerted the company that someone had manipulated the files.

He also “threatened public health and safety” by changing allergen information on the menus, the court filing alleged.

“Namely, the threat actor manipulated the allergen information on menus by adding information to some allergen notifications that indicated certain menu items were safe for individuals with peanut allergies, when in fact they could be deadly to those with peanut allergies,” the criminal complaint stated.

The menus with the edits allegedly made by Scheuer were printed but were caught before being sent to restaurants, CourtWatch said.

Federal agents seized Scheuer’s computers, but he denied doing anything wrong, saying that Disney was framing him, “because they were worried about him and the conditions under which he was terminated.”

The FBI said in the court filings that Scheuer’s “firing was contentious and was not considered to be amicable.”

He did say he used his personal Google Chrome account to do work while an employee but could not say if he accessed the systems after his firing. He said he used the account for paystubs and financial information.

Scheuer’s attorney told NBC News, “The allegations acknowledge that no one was injured or harmed. I look forward to vigorously presenting my client’s side of the story.”

The attorney said his client’s disability, which he did not disclose to NBC News, was the reason for the termination, saying that Scheuer asked the company about being fired and when Disney did not respond, filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint about it.

Scheuer was accused of “Knowingly causing the transmission of a program, information, code, or command to a protected computer and intentionally causing damage without authorization in excess of $5,000,″ NBC News reported.

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