Skip to content
Life Guide Situations Guides

    Type a keyword to search
    English

    Hand over all account access when you leave, and don't delete databases, leave backdoors or change passwords to lock the system, even if the company owes you money

    • High value
    • Evidence A
    • Keeps you free
    • Free
    • Takes minutes
    • Some willpower

    In plain words

    Account passwords were given to you by the company, which does not mean you can still use them after you leave. Illegally controlling a system carries up to 3 years when the circumstances are serious. Deleting data so the system can't run carries up to 5 years, and 5 years or more if the consequences are especially serious. A dismissed engineer used his old administrator account to delete data and logs. The loss was more than 120,000 CNY, and he got 3 years, suspended for 5 years, and a fine of 30,000 CNY.

    Cost

    Free. If the company owes you wages, recover them through labor arbitration and don't act on your own (for labor arbitration see §7). The hard part is holding back from touching the system when you are angry.

    What you get

    Illegally controlling a computer information system, when the circumstances are serious, carries up to 3 years, with a fine on top or a fine alone, and 3 to 7 years in especially serious cases. Deleting or changing system functions or data so that the system can't run normally carries up to 5 years when the consequences are serious, and 5 years or more when they are especially serious. Official cases: Lü, a senior IT engineer, was dismissed and then logged into the company's shared server with his old administrator account. He changed the password and deleted data and logs, causing a loss of more than 120,000 CNY. The sentence was 3 years, suspended for 5 years, and a fine of 30,000 CNY. Bai, an employee of a software company, deliberately put faulty code into an upgrade program, so that a customer's system could not be logged into. The loss was more than 40,000 CNY, and he was prosecuted for the crime of sabotaging a computer information system (nationwide)

    Notes

    Account passwords were given to you by the company, which does not mean you can still use them after you leave. Logging in with an account beyond the scope of authorization counts as intrusion under the wording of Procuratorate Case No. 36 (检例第 36 号); see §11.9 (don't test other people's systems without written authorization). In the Lü case, after logging in he also changed the administrator password and deleted data. The procuratorate found that the system did not stop working as a result, so it did not prosecute for the crime of sabotaging a computer information system and prosecuted for the crime of illegally controlling a computer information system instead. The loss is counted including the necessary cost of recovering the data. Under the 2011 interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (两高), a loss of 10,000 (1万) CNY or more is enough for "serious circumstances," and 50,000 (5万) CNY counts as especially serious. The loss in the Lü case was more than 120,000 (12万多) CNY, which was found to be especially serious.

    Evidence grade
    A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.
    Sources
    1. National People's Congress (2020). Criminal Law [in Chinese] (as amended by Amendment XI, Article 285, paragraph 2, and Article 286). https://jtgl.beijing.gov.cn/jgj/jgxx/flfg/fl/11033925/index.html
    2. Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate (2011). Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases Endangering the Security of Computer Information Systems [in Chinese] (Articles 1 and 11). https://ga.sz.gov.cn/ZWGK/ZCFG/ZCJD/content/post_1304363.html (republished by the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau)
    3. Supreme People's Procuratorate (2024). Typical Cases of Procuratorial Organs "Punishing Cybercrime in Accordance with the Law to Support Comprehensive Governance of Cyberspace" [in Chinese] (Case 6). https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/202402/t20240223_644505.shtml
    4. Supreme People's Procuratorate (2025). Typical Cases of Procuratorial Organs Punishing Crimes Harming Enterprise Data Security to Serve and Protect Enterprise Innovation and Development [in Chinese] (Case 7). https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/202501/t20250124_680670.shtml

    This tip also appears in

    Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 11, tip 6. This section describes legal rules, mostly mainland China’s. It is general information, not legal advice; for your own case, talk to a lawyer. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer