Former Intel engineer disappears after alleged theft of 18,000 confidential files

Intel Corporation has launched a $250,000 lawsuit against a former software engineer accused of stealing around 18,000 confidential documents labeled “Intel Top Secret” before vanishing. The incident has raised serious concerns about data protection amid widespread corporate layoffs.

According to the lawsuit, the engineer, identified as Jinfeng Luo, had been with Intel since 2014 and was terminated in July 2025. In the days leading up to his departure, Luo allegedly tried multiple times to transfer sensitive company data. His initial attempt to copy files onto an external drive was blocked by Intel’s security system, but he reportedly succeeded in transferring data to a Network-Attached Storage device three days before his final day at work.

Investigators claim Luo spent his remaining time downloading thousands of confidential files before disappearing. The company detected the breach soon after the data transfer and has since made repeated attempts to contact him through phone calls, emails, and official letters, but he has not responded.

“Luo has refused to even engage with Intel,” the company stated in its legal filing, “let alone return the files.”

The alleged theft occurred amid Intel’s ongoing workforce reduction, which has seen about 35,000 job cuts in recent years. The tech giant has a track record of taking legal action against former employees over data theft; one ex-engineer was recently sentenced to probation and fined for stealing information to secure a job at Microsoft.

Intel is now demanding $250,000 in damages and the full recovery of the stolen data. Luo’s current whereabouts remain unknown.