What he did was equally an act of heroism (in face of Internet history) and stupidity (in face of his own life). Perhaps, he should just have wiped and destroyed the disks, and have it "seemed like a system crash at a bad timing" caused it :)
This is now the world we live in.
This guy didn't risk his life. His livelihood perhaps, but not his life.
This isn't a James Bond film. It's 1984.