Fired Stanford researcher gets probation for altering cancer data with insults like ‘doctor too stupid’
SAN JOSE — A fired Stanford researcher was given four years of probation for hacking into a cancer patient database and altering it in 2013.
Naheed Mangi, 70, was convicted earlier this year of intentional damage to a protected computer. Prosecutors say that after being fired, she changed the database by replacing patient information with gibberish and childish insults like, “doctor too stupid.”
While the incident happened in 2013, Mangi wasn’t indicted until 2018, and wasn’t convicted until a jury trial last February, records show. Prosecutors asked for a 10-month sentence to be split between jail and house arrest, but instead Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila sentenced Mangi to probation.
Her attorney argued in court that no time in custody was a just outcome.
“Notably, for the seven years since her arrest, Ms. Mangi has complied with her conditions of release. She is 70 years old and has lived at the same address for the past 28 years,” a defense sentencing memo says. “Ms. Mangi is currently unemployed, living a solitary life on her social security and savings.”
Mangi must pay $10,520.69 in restitution, court records show.
Mangi was working on a Stanford University study, sponsored by Genentech, testing a new, experimental pharmaceutical treatment for breast cancer. Prosecutors argued her actions betrayed the trust of patients who agreed to participate in the study, and that it was motivated by Mangi’s hurt feelings from being fired.