Upon leaving a job, return all account access rights; do not delete databases, leave backdoors, or alter password protection systems — even if the employer owes you wages.

6. Upon leaving a job, return all account access rights; do not delete databases, leave backdoors, or alter password protection systems — even if the employer owes you wages.

Cost: No cost involved. If the employer owes you wages, pursue them through labor arbitration (see Section 7 on labor arbitration). The real challenge is resisting the urge to tamper with the system while angry.

In plain terms: Account credentials are issued by the employer, but they do not remain valid after you leave the job. Logging in using those credentials constitutes illegal control of computer systems, punishable by up to 3 years in prison. Deleting data to render the system inoperable is punishable by up to 5 years in prison; more severe cases incur sentences exceeding 5 years. One example: a dismissed senior engineer logged into his former employer’s servers using his original admin credentials, deleted data and logs, resulting in over 120,000 yuan in losses. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison, suspended for 5 years, and fined 30,000 yuan.

Benefit: Illegal control of computer information systems is punishable by up to 3 years in prison, with or without a fine; more serious cases incur sentences ranging from 3 to 7 years. Deleting or altering system functions or data to the point the system cannot operate normally is punishable by up to 5 years in prison; more severe cases incur sentences exceeding 5 years. Official cases include: after being dismissed, senior IT engineer Lü used his original admin account to access his former employer’s shared servers, changed passwords, and deleted data and logs, causing over 120,000 yuan in losses; he received the same sentence as above. Another case: Bai, an employee at a software firm, deliberately inserted faulty code into an upgrade program, rendering client systems inaccessible and causing over 40,000 yuan in losses; he was prosecuted for disrupting computer information systems nationwide.

Evidence grade: A

Sources: National People's Congress (2020). Criminal Law (Amended under the Criminal Law Amendment (11), Article 285, Paragraph 2, Article 286). <https://jtgl.beijing.gov.cn/jgj/jgxx/flfg/fl/11033925/index.html>; Supreme People's Procuratorate of China (2024). "Typical Case of Promoting Comprehensive Management of Cyberspace" (Case 6). <https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/202402/t20240223_644505.shtml>; Supreme People's Procuratorate of China (2025). The procuratorial organs punish crimes that infringe on corporate data security in accordance with the law and provide services to ensure the innovation and development of enterprises (Case 7). <https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/202501/t20250124_680670.shtml>

Notes: Account credentials are issued by the employer, but they do not remain valid after you leave the job. Logging in using original credentials constitutes “illegal control.” Losses are calculated based on data recovery costs; amounts in the tens of thousands of yuan are sufficient to initiate legal proceedings.