in MyBizHomepage.

When Mr. Justen contacted authorities about the attacks and explained what he thought was happening, he said he learned something else about his former chief technology officer: there was little, if any, official proof that he existed. Mr. Justen said he knew that the officer was unusual, that he had been arrested on an outstanding warrant after being pulled over on suspicion of driving with a fake license plate. But Mr. Justen said he did not realize that the chief technology officer had no official identity: no driver’s license, no credit cards, no tax returns. The chief technology officer apparently had been living off the grid, which made tracking him down almost impossible even with the help of the authorities.

Mr. Justen said he concluded that the chieftechnology officer had built multiple “backdoor” entrances into the MyBizHomepage software and had compromised the company’s backup data. It became clear that the site would need to be shut down indefinitely, essentially putting the company out of business.

THE OPTIONS Given the security breaches and the destruction of the backup copies of the code, Mr. Justen said he knew that he would have to start from scratch if he wanted the company to continue. But he was reluctant to go back to his original investors for more money, and he knew he would have a hard time raising capital after the 2008 credit crisis. He considered having the company declare bankruptcy, but he knew that meant his investors would lose everything.

He also struggled with how public to make what