School’s email allegedly being held for ransom by fired IT worker

A fired information technology worker allegedly changed the password of a Google account for the online school he worked for, locking the institution out of emails and course materials for more than 2,000 students, a lawsuit states.

Triano Williams worked for the Indianapolis-based American College of Education but was fired in April 2016 after refusing to relocate from his Chicago home for work. Now he’s demanding the school rehire him as a consultant and pay him $200,000 to unlock the information, the Indianapolis Star newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the school alleges in a lawsuit that Mr. Williams installed a new operating system, changed the account's password and erased the hard drive.

A lawyer for Mr. Williams, who is black, has claimed the school mistakenly erased the data, according to the newspaper, and is firing back with a racial discrimination lawsuit. 

Mr. Williams has reportedly failed to attend court hearings and a judge has ordered him to pay the school $248,350 in damages, the newspaper reported.

"The reality is the college created this problem over the course of the last several years as a result of certain business decisions followed by the termination of certain key employees," his attorney wrote in a letter to the college’s attorney, according to the newspaper.