The threat of staff members visiting pornographic sites is an ever present problem. Allowing the practice immediately raises the threat of industrial relations problems, civil actions and, in the worst cases, police involvement. It has to be acted upon, and computer forensics is the only practical way to do it.
The problem
The HR manager of one of our clients, a professional services firm, noted an increase in internet traffic associated with a number of individuals working in their IT department. Further investigation raised suspicions that the individual may be downloading pornographic material form the internet. The case was complicated by the fact that, because the individuals concerned were all senior IT specialists, we could only receive limited assistance from our client’s own IT personnel.
The solution
We discreetly took forensic copies of each of the individuals’ computers. We discovered pornography on each of the computers in question. However, we also found logs showing than another, previously unsuspected, member of the IT staff had remotely connected to each of the computers at times they were used to download pornographic materials. When we, in turn, checked this individual’s computer we uncovered a large store of hardcore pornographic material as well as the password cracking software which had allowed him to compromise each of his colleague’s user accounts.
The culprit was summarily dismissed. His colleagues were cleared of involvement.
Please click here to download Grant Thornton’s guide to dealing with computer misuse.