Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse “Partner” statues at Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Saturday, June 3, 2023.
Joe Burbank | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
A disgruntled former Disney employee has been accused of hacking into menu-creation software used at the company’s restaurants to falsely indicate that certain items did not contain peanuts.
In a federal criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, recently fired Michael Scheuer is accused of knowingly transferring a program to a protected computer and intentionally causing damage without authorization.
Scheer previously worked as a menu production manager at Walt Disney World. While at the company, Scheuer was responsible for creating and publishing menus for the company’s entire restaurant portfolio.
Scheuer was fired in June due to alleged misconduct, the complaint said, adding that the firing was controversial and unkind.
The criminal complaint is First reported by Court Watch.
After he was fired, he continued to access the software from his personal device and changed menu prices and added profanity over a three-month period, the complaint states.
The changes were “more benign,” but Scheuer “also made several changes to the menu that threatened public health and safety,” such as changing allergen information on the menu, the complaint said. The lawsuit alleges that the menu was decided before it was delivered to the restaurant.
“That is, the threat actors manipulated allergen information on menus by adding information to some allergen notices that suggested certain menu items were safe for people with peanut allergies, when in fact they were safe for those with peanut allergies,” the complaint states. They can be fatal to people with peanut allergies.
On Sept. 23, federal agents searched Scheuer’s home and seized four personal computers, according to the criminal complaint. Schur denied any wrongdoing and accused Disney of trying to frame him “because they were concerned about him and the conditions of his termination,” according to the complaint.
He did allegedly admit to using his personal Google Chrome profile for work while employed. He could not say whether he accessed Disney’s systems after being fired because he believed he might have used them to obtain information such as payroll and financial information.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
“These charges acknowledge that no one was harmed or harmed,” said Scheer’s attorney, David Haas. “I look forward to vigorously laying out my client’s side of the story.” He added that Scheer “suffers from a disability. He believes this influenced his dismissal from Disney”.
“Disney failed to respond to his inquiries about his termination, and he responded by filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” Haas said.
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