David McIntosh, a computer engineer with CSG Services, an Australian IT firm with a government contract, took cyber vengeance after he was sacked. McIntosh admitted hacking into a government network and crashing a number of servers. He erased the data of 10,475 public servants, causing an estimated $US 600,000 damage. He goes on trial in October.

McIntosh may beat another IT specialist, Terry Childs, in terms of damage caused. But the San Francisco rogue system administrator certainly went one better than his Australian counterpart in terms of publicity. For almost two weeks in July, Childs, a freshly fired senior developer for the city’s new computer network, held the whole system hostage. He denied everyone access to vital information like police records, confidential financial data and official e-mails. The stand-off ended when he handed the ‘digital keys’ to SF Mayor Gavin Newsom after the official visited Childs in prison.

The exact motives for Childs’ attack are still not known. Defence lawyers clams Childs wanted to draw public attention to corruption and the lack of expertise in San Francisco’s IT department. But the prosecution says it was a simple act of revenge by a skilled but delinquent professional.

Many sacked employees want compensation rather then retribution for what they see as unjust dismissal. Taking company clients’ contacts or stealing something from the office is something even otherwise lawful folk do to sweeten the bitter pill of redundancy.

But sometimes this petty thievery defies rationality, like in the case of a Russian man, often mocked in blogs, who allegedly ‘spirited away’ a car-boot full of funeral wreaths and a portrait of Dmitry Medvedev. According to human resource experts, ex-bosses tend to turn a blind eye to such misdemeanours. It’s wiser than hurting people’s feeling even more and running the risk of turning them into revenge obsessed fanatics.

Sometimes, pure fun can make up for the shock of losing a job. There’s no other explanation for the case of a man in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk who hijacked a tram. Anton Nosikov, 22, who worked for the streetcar system, seized a tramcar and went on a trip around the city with his former colleagues chasing him in another tram. They finally caught the offender when the vehicle, which did not work properly, finally broke down and stopped. The court sentenced Nosikov to a suspended two year term, since his stunt showed no malice and he later repented for his actions.