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Femme fatale fined R40 000 after sparks flew at Eskom office

A senior Eskom manager has been fined R40 000 for hacking her ex-lover’s work e-mail with the help of her new boyfriend.

Genevieve Roux‚ 35‚ and Sean Millard‚ 38‚ admitted gaining illegal access to Johannes Burger’s e-mail account. Millard‚ who was fined R10 000‚ also admitted impersonating Burger in order to obtain his email settings from the Eskom call centre.

The sentences were handed down last week at Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court in terms of a plea bargain agreement.

Roux and Millard‚ who work at the Eskom complex in Brackenfell‚ north of Cape Town‚ will learn their fate as employees when the outcome of their disciplinary hearing is announced on Friday.

An Eskom spokesman said Roux’s actions contravened Eskom data security policy and “endangered the national power utility’s information network‚ which is regarded as a critical database and is specifically protected by various pieces of legislation to ensure that the national security of South Africa is not compromised in any way”.

Roux‚ from Durbanville‚ admitted nine counts of contravening the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. She illegally changed Burger’s email password then entered his office without his knowledge and sent emails using his computer‚ and later her cellphone.

Eskom said the court found that Roux‚ a specialised maintenance and support manager‚ abused her position‚ violated Burger’s right to privacy and exposed Eskom’s information to a security breach. The court imposed a fine of R40 000 or two years imprisonment.

Senior power plant maintenance supervisor Millard‚ of Parklands‚ who also pleaded guilty to contravening the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act‚ was slapped with a R10 000 fine or one year imprisonment.

“We are happy with the judgment as it shows how seriously we view the protection of the critical data that sits within Eskom‚” said Tebogo Rakau‚ Eskom divisional executive for security.

“The fact that this breach did happen is also an eye-opener for us‚ highlighting the need to institute even tighter security measures to ensure the integrity of the Eskom database from internal and external threats.”

Die Son reported in July that Burger consulted a lawyer when his affair with Roux ended. Her objective in hacking into his email was to read correspondence between him and his lawyer‚ it said.

According to their LinkedIn profiles‚ Roux joined Eskom as a trainee in 2003 and Millard joined in 2007 as a supervisor.

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