How 'Null Encryption' Crashed an MLM Empire: Malicious Compliance at Its Finest
What happens when a shady multi-level marketing company demands a quick-fix for credit card encryption—and their IT manager delivers exactly what they asked for, word for word? You get one of the most epic tales of malicious compliance on Reddit, featuring midnight database jobs, 5am screaming bosses, and the IT equivalent of vaporizing the company’s money printer.
Buckle up as we explore how “null encryption” didn’t just secure customer data, it secured the fate of the entire business in the most poetic tech revenge ever.
When Shady Business Meets Exhausted IT
Our story begins in 2001, with Redditor u/CauseImSoPopular working 18-hour days as the IT Manager for Z-corp, an MLM (multi-level marketing) company that sold "internet education" and web hosting. If you’ve ever been offered a “ground floor opportunity” by a cousin you haven’t heard from since 2006, you know the type.
Z-corp’s real business was getting people to pay $149 a year—for, well, the privilege of recruiting more people to pay $149 a year, with the promise that you, too, could be a millionaire. It was run by a family of ex-construction workers who apparently thought the secret to business success was yelling at employees before sunrise.
Picture this: You’re the only thing standing between the company and technological doom, running on fumes, and at 5am your phone explodes with rage because the entire website is down. You discover the boss’s son, Richard, has nuked the production files and trashed the company’s credit card processor contract, then gone into hiding like a 90s hacker movie villain.
The Encryption Ultimatum
After two days of chaos, Z-corp is given a lifeline by their original credit card processor: return to business, but only if they add SSL (secure web browsing) and encrypt all stored credit card data. This is not a wild demand—this is bare minimum “please don’t get us sued” stuff, even in 2001.
The dev team says a proper encryption job will take months. But the CEO (“Daddy”) just wants something fast. Our hero suggests “Null Encryption”—and, crucially, Daddy never asks what that means.
What did “Null Encryption” mean in this case? It meant a nightly database job that, instead of actually encrypting credit card numbers, simply deleted them (set them to NULL) at midnight. No data, no problem!
When Compliance Is Too Literal
The credit card processor’s auditors come to check out Z-corp’s brand-new, super innovative “encryption.” They’re shown the code:
Every night at midnight, poof!—no more credit card numbers. The auditors are satisfied: after all, there’s no unencrypted data left to steal. The company is back in business.
But, of course, there’s a catch: when annual renewals roll around, there are no credit card numbers left to charge. The company’s entire business model—automatic renewals and payouts to the up-line—succumbs to the magic of malicious compliance. Six days after our IT hero quit, the first round of renewals failed. Z-corp folded soon after.
Why This Is a Masterclass in Malicious Compliance
This story isn’t just cathartic tech drama; it’s a masterclass in the dangers of clueless leadership, the power of literal compliance, and the importance of listening to your experts.
- Leadership matters: When you ignore your tech team and demand shortcuts, you might get exactly what you ask for… not what you need.
- Technical debt bites back: Quick fixes can cost you dearly. In this case, the “fix” led directly to the company’s demise.
- Malicious compliance is a force: Sometimes, the best revenge is doing exactly what you’re told—especially if you’re asked to be “creative” with the rules.
Oh, and the cherry on top? After Z-corp’s collapse, the FTC investigated and handed out indictments. The IT manager, meanwhile, had already landed a job where 5am screaming wasn’t on the agenda.
Final Thoughts: The Best Revenge Is a Clean Quit
There’s something deeply satisfying about stories where the underdog gets the last laugh—especially when their “compliance” is a work of art. So, the next time your boss demands a miracle fix without understanding the problem, remember: sometimes the most literal solution is also the most devastating.
Have you ever witnessed a case of malicious compliance that destroyed a bad system from the inside? Share your stories in the comments!
Want more tech tales and workplace shenanigans? Subscribe to our blog—or better yet, set a database job to remind you at midnight. Just don’t set your reminders to NULL.
Original Reddit Post: Null encryption creates null company