10-31-2018 , 10:04 PM
https://www.techspot.com/news/77163-empl...twork.html Employee's porn habit causes malware infection on government network
Another reason why it's NSFW
By Rob Thubron on October 30, 2018, 8:55 AM 10 comments
Facepalm: No matter how much you enjoy internet pornography, it’s never a good idea to visit ‘sites of an adult nature’ while at work. Just ask the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employee whose porn viewing habits resulted in a government network becoming infected with malware.
An IT security audit at the EROS Center, a satellite imaging facility in South Dakota, revealed some suspicious internet traffic on the computer network, leading to an investigation by the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
It was discovered that an unnamed employee had been using a government-issued laptop to visit 9000 pornographic web pages. Many of these were routed through Russian websites and contained malware, which infected the computer and “exploited the USGS’s network.”
As if doing some one-handed web browsing at work wasn’t bad enough, the individual in question also saved many of the pornographic images to “an unauthorized USB device and personal Android cell phone [also infected with malware]” that was connected to the laptop.
In the report, the Office of Inspector General recommends maintaining a blacklist of web addresses and domains and regularly monitoring employee web usage. It also advises restricting the use of removable media and personally owned mobile devices.
Speaking to TechCrunch, a spokesperson for Interior’s Inspector General said there was no threat to national security as the EROS center doesn’t operate any classified networks. No word on what happened to the employee, though, but they’ll probably keep their porn-watching sessions at home from now on.
Image credit: Shutterstock / Giulio_Fornasar
Another reason why it's NSFW
By Rob Thubron on October 30, 2018, 8:55 AM 10 comments
Facepalm: No matter how much you enjoy internet pornography, it’s never a good idea to visit ‘sites of an adult nature’ while at work. Just ask the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employee whose porn viewing habits resulted in a government network becoming infected with malware.
An IT security audit at the EROS Center, a satellite imaging facility in South Dakota, revealed some suspicious internet traffic on the computer network, leading to an investigation by the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
It was discovered that an unnamed employee had been using a government-issued laptop to visit 9000 pornographic web pages. Many of these were routed through Russian websites and contained malware, which infected the computer and “exploited the USGS’s network.”
As if doing some one-handed web browsing at work wasn’t bad enough, the individual in question also saved many of the pornographic images to “an unauthorized USB device and personal Android cell phone [also infected with malware]” that was connected to the laptop.
In the report, the Office of Inspector General recommends maintaining a blacklist of web addresses and domains and regularly monitoring employee web usage. It also advises restricting the use of removable media and personally owned mobile devices.
Speaking to TechCrunch, a spokesperson for Interior’s Inspector General said there was no threat to national security as the EROS center doesn’t operate any classified networks. No word on what happened to the employee, though, but they’ll probably keep their porn-watching sessions at home from now on.
Image credit: Shutterstock / Giulio_Fornasar