Ex-boss hacks former employees' corporate data to launch rival firm

Former president of transportation logistics firm Exel, and two accomplices, hacked into the servers of his former employer to glean secrets for his new business.

"Through their repeated unauthorized accesses into Exel's e-mail accounts, the co-conspirators were able to obtain Exel's confidential and proprietary business information and use it to benefit themselves and their new employer," an FBI statement said.

Michael Musacchio, the hacker boss, left Exel in 2004 and proceeded to hack his former company for two years as he set up a rival transportation business.

"It's unclear how much hacking Musacchio and his pals actually needed to do in this case," the Register reports. "Companies are very lax about shutting down old accounts from staff who have moved on (it took one former employer over six months), and Musacchio may have used this negligence to gain the information he was after."