How a Baidu Ops Engineer Was Sentenced for Mining Crypto on 155 Servers

From mining to cashing out to a three‑year prison sentence, a Baidu operations engineer completed this three‑stage saga in just seven months.

He used Baidu's search servers for cryptocurrency mining.

According to a recently released judgment, Baidu operations engineer An used his privileged access to mine Bitcoin and Monero, profiting roughly 100,000 CNY.

From late January to the end of May 2018, An exploited 155 servers, earning about 10 wan yuan by selling the mined coins.

After the crime was discovered, the money was confiscated, an additional fine of 11,000 CNY was imposed, and he received a three‑year prison term.

Motivated by Profit, He Turned to Crypto

In early 2018, Bitcoin prices surged to nearly 20,000 USD, roughly 130,000 CNY per coin, making mining highly lucrative.

Ordinary users lack sufficient hash power, so An leveraged his position to use Baidu's servers for mining.

Employed at Baidu for 1 year and 3 months, An had access to the search server control system.

Using a MacBook with iTerm, he uploaded a compressed file containing a script (java_4u3) that automatically unpacked, created directories, deleted them, and connected to a proxy to control the servers.

The script was deployed on over 155 servers, allowing Baidu’s computing resources to mine Monero via a hash‑site, which later paid out in Bitcoin.

An withdrew the Bitcoin to otcbtc.com, sold it for about 100,000 CNY, and transferred the proceeds to his Alipay account, retaining roughly 1.44 BTC in the hash‑site wallet and about 1.5 BTC on otcbtc.com.

Mining on 155 Servers for Four Months

On May 30 2018, Baidu detected abnormal server usage as mining programs consumed significant resources.

Log analysis identified An, a senior operations engineer, as the perpetrator who had been mining for several months, controlling 155 servers.

Baidu’s policy strictly prohibits such activities because mining software degrades server performance.

The company hired a third‑party service for emergency response, including log extraction and forensic analysis.

After gathering evidence, Baidu’s ethics department reported the case to the police.

On July 18, An was summoned to a meeting room with police present and confessed to illegally controlling Baidu’s servers.

Police seized a silver MacBook, a TOKEN key, several smartphones, and other devices.

He was arrested on August 24 and detained at Haidian Detention Center.

The Beijing Haidian District People’s Court sentenced him on January 4 2019 to three years imprisonment and a fine of 11,000 CNY, confiscating 110,000 CNY of illegal gains.

His appeal was rejected, and the original judgment was upheld.

Public Reaction: 100 k CNY Profit vs. 3‑Year Prison

The case sparked discussion online, with many questioning why a senior engineer would risk three years of freedom for a profit that barely covers electricity costs.

Legal experts noted that the crime falls under “illegal control of computer information systems,” carrying a mandatory sentence of three to seven years, reduced here due to his confession and restitution.

Comments highlighted the moral breach of using employer resources for personal gain.

Ultimately, the case underscores the paramount importance of adhering to legal and ethical standards in information security.