I was authorized to trash my employer's network, sysadmin tells court

&gt; If he is found to have acted without authorization, the question then becomes: does that make other sysadmins criminally liable for mistakes they might make unless they get explicit permission beforehand? That would create a hell of a problem.<p>&gt; If Thomas is found to have acted with authorization, every company will wonder if that gives their sysadmins carte blanche to ruin their systems with no legal comeback. That&#x27;s not going to sit very well in boardrooms.<p>Both are very good points. Not that I think that a sysadmin has the right to screw up everything <i>on purpose</i>, far from that. But the other way round: when a sysadmin screw up something, will he be obliged to prove that was a mistake? What constitutes a mistake? Not all companies have the right touch when dealing with the IT personal, so all sysadmins will have to contract some insurance against his company?

New Employee Policy:<p>Employees are not authorized to access any company computer resources unless the following conditions are met:<p>1. Toilet seats must be in the down position following restroom use, as requested by HR.<p>2. Coffee area must be clean, with all spills and sugar wiped from the counter.<p>3. Refrigerator must be clean and free from week-old goods.<p>Any attempt to access the network while the above conditions are not met will be considered an unauthorized access of the network.

mens rea. if he knows what he did was wrong, that&#x27;s enough to find him guilty.