Intel Sues Ex-Employee It Claims Stole 18,000 Company Files
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<p>IT giant Intel is reportedly suing a former employee who allegedly downloaded about 18,000 files days before leaving the company.</p><p>Intel, on the last day of October, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.354479/gov.uscourts.wawd.354479.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed a lawsuit</a> against Jinfeng Luo, who worked as a software engineer for the chip maker from September 2014 until July. The lawsuit doesn’t say why Luo was let go, though it’s likely he was part of another wave of layoffs at the company, which has cut more than 35,000 jobs in the last couple of years, including an expected 25,000 this year.</p><div class="code-block code-block-13" style="margin: 8px 0; clear: both;"> <style> .ai-rotate {position: relative;} .ai-rotate-hidden {visibility: hidden;} .ai-rotate-hidden-2 {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback, .ai-list-block, .ai-list-block-ip, .ai-list-block-filter {visibility: hidden; position: absolute; width: 50%; height: 1px; top: -1000px; z-index: -9999; margin: 0px!important;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-filter-check, .ai-fallback {min-width: 1px;} </style> <div class="ai-rotate ai-unprocessed ai-timed-rotation ai-13-1" data-info="WyIxMy0xIiwxXQ==" style="position: relative;"> <div class="ai-rotate-option" style="visibility: hidden;" data-index="1" data-name="U2hvcnQ=" data-time="MTA="> <div class="custom-ad"> <div style="margin: auto; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.techstrongevents.com/cruisecon-virtual-west-2025/home?ref=in-article-ad-2&utm_source=sb&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=in-article-ad-2" target="_blank"><img src="https://securityboulevard.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Banner-770x330-social-1.png" alt="Cruise Con 2025"></a></div> <div class="clear-custom-ad"></div> </div></div> </div> </div><p>The goal was to reduce its global workforce <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/24/tech/intel-layoffs-15-percent-q2-earnings#:~:text=Intel%20said%20the%20staff%20reduction,to%20cut%20nearly%202%2C400%20workers." target="_blank" rel="noopener">by about 15%</a>, to fewer than 90,000.</p><p>Intel notified Luo, who lived in Seattle, on July 7 that he was being let go, with an effective date of July 31. The lawsuit was filed on October 31 in federal court in Washington.</p><p>“Shortly after Luo was notified of his termination, he used a network attached storage (“NAS”) device to download nearly 18,000 files from his Intel accounts and laptop, many of which were Intel Top Secret or contained Intel Confidential Information,” Intel wrote in the lawsuit. “Luo’s data transfer was detected by Intel and triggered an internal investigation.”</p><h3>No Contact in Months</h3><p>The company has tried to contact Luo a number of times over the past few months, including via phone, email, and letters, but with no success. He’s essentially disappeared, so Intel is suing him for $250,000 and to force him to return any confidential information taken. They’re also asking the court to order him to temporarily turn over any personal devices to Intel so the company can inspect them and remove any company-related information they contain.</p><p>According to the lawsuit, Luo initially tried to download a file from his Intel-issued laptop onto an external hard drive onto his laptop no July 23, but was stopped by Intel’s internal controls. Five days later, he allegedly successfully connected the NAS device to his laptop and over four days downloaded almost 18,000 files.</p><p>Over the course of three months, Intel tried to contact Luo more than a dozen times, with no success.</p><p>“Despite Intel’s diligent attempts to remedy and mitigate the harmful effects of Luo’s conduct, including the misappropriation of Intel trade secrets, Luo has ignored repeated emails, phone calls, and physical letters from both Intel and outside counsel over the course of three months,” the company wrote in the lawsuit. “Luo’s continued silence demonstrates that he has no intention of cooperating with Intel in any capacity despite his contractual obligation to do so.”</p><p>Luo is violating an employee agreement he signed when he was hired, Intel claims.</p><h3>A Lot of Jobs Being Lost</h3><p>The Associated Press in late October reported about <a href="https://apnews.com/article/layoffs-2025-amazon-ups-job-cuts-8413af9ac5b434b092ed76d6fa6cd196" target="_blank" rel="noopener">widespread layoffs</a> occurring in corporate America, detailing some of the larger job cuts at high-profile companies amid growing economic uncertainty over the past year. Some examples include Amazon announcing last month that it was shedding about 14,000 jobs, Microsoft cutting at least 15,000, and Intel’s moves to shrink its workforce to about 75,000 by the end of the year.</p><p>Cybersecurity companies have warned about the heightened risk of data loss during times of employee layoffs and departures.</p><p>“As workforce dynamics shift with increased employee departures and layoffs, organizations must prioritize data security to mitigate rising risks,” Fidelis Security <a href="https://fidelissecurity.com/cybersecurity-101/data-protection/resignations-layoffs-and-data-risks/#:~:text=As%20workforce%20dynamics%20shift%20with,necessary%20protection%20for%20modern%20challenges." target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in January</a>, adding that “76% of organizations have detected increased insider threat activity over the past five years, which usually happens during layoffs and resignations. When employees depart, the risk of sensitive data being exposed, stolen, or mishandled increases significantly.”</p><h3>Remote Work, Cloud Adoption Raise Risk</h3><p>The risk has increased over the past several years with the increase in remote work and the growing adoption of cloud technologies, which accelerated during the pandemic.</p><p>“Many companies are still relying on legacy security systems that were not designed to cope with the current flexible, cloud-based environments,” Fidelis wrote. “These older systems often fail to provide the necessary protection for modern challenges. … Tracking data movement and potential leaks during employee transitions is a complex task for organizations. Without proper oversight, unauthorized employee access to sensitive data can lead to serious breaches, especially if the departure happens suddenly or without proper monitoring.”</p><p>Several factors make it difficult to track data movement and potential leaks when an employee leaves, including the multiple devices and platforms – including email, cloud storage, and USB drives – workers use when handling corporate data.</p><p>The situation is made even more difficult when an employee leaves quickly, or a company can live track the data that employees are moving around.</p><p>“When multiple employees leave at once (for reasons like layoffs or mass resignations), the risk of data leaks or theft goes up,” the security company wrote. “It’s harder for security teams to manage everything happening at once. As organizations face these challenges, adopting advanced data security measures to prevent data leaks becomes critical.”</p><div class="spu-placeholder" style="display:none"></div><div class="addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom"><div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_20 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://securityboulevard.com/2025/11/intel-sues-ex-employee-it-claims-stole-18000-company-files/" data-a2a-title="Intel Sues Ex-Employee It Claims Stole 18,000 Company Files"><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F11%2Fintel-sues-ex-employee-it-claims-stole-18000-company-files%2F&linkname=Intel%20Sues%20Ex-Employee%20It%20Claims%20Stole%2018%2C000%20Company%20Files" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_linkedin" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F11%2Fintel-sues-ex-employee-it-claims-stole-18000-company-files%2F&linkname=Intel%20Sues%20Ex-Employee%20It%20Claims%20Stole%2018%2C000%20Company%20Files" title="LinkedIn" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F11%2Fintel-sues-ex-employee-it-claims-stole-18000-company-files%2F&linkname=Intel%20Sues%20Ex-Employee%20It%20Claims%20Stole%2018%2C000%20Company%20Files" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_reddit" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F11%2Fintel-sues-ex-employee-it-claims-stole-18000-company-files%2F&linkname=Intel%20Sues%20Ex-Employee%20It%20Claims%20Stole%2018%2C000%20Company%20Files" title="Reddit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2025%2F11%2Fintel-sues-ex-employee-it-claims-stole-18000-company-files%2F&linkname=Intel%20Sues%20Ex-Employee%20It%20Claims%20Stole%2018%2C000%20Company%20Files" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share"></a></div></div>