Personal PC attached to work network

[mmelby]

This is an interesting article about an employee bringing in his person PC and attaching it to his employers network. Then somebody finds child pornography on it. He is now in jail (where he belongs(personal opinion))...

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6173540.html

And yes believe it or not he had NO password set on the PC.

[fourdc]

This is a nightmare for an admin as well. "Joe Employee" brings his home computer in and connects to the corporate network and who knows what wonderful "goodies' he can spread on the corporate lan.

Not too mention the corporate espionage he can do. Not that a 4 gig thumbdrive wouldn't be sufficient.

[nihil]

Seems like a good call to me.

1. The cop wasn't acting in his capacity as a cop, but as a software engineer.
2. The reported problem was a file sharing violation.
3. The application he looked at was filesharing?

When he discovered the illegal material a warrant was duly obtained.

An unprotected computer attached to a public network in a public office really must be considered as being in "plain view"?

[jockey0109]

Well did that employee ever answered why he brought that PC to the office?

[nihil]

Yes,

When Michael Barrows was the treasurer for the city of Glencoe, Okla., he shared a workspace with the city clerk including a computer that both used to access city records. Because sharing one computer was inconvenient, Barrows brought in his own computer from home and placed it on the shared desk.

I would have thought they could have run to a second machine? Looking up city records isn't exactly resource demanding.

[Aardpsymon]

Screw the implications of the network access, several places I have worked you can't bring anything from home because of electrical safety. They all have to have those test tags to show they are safe. This is because if you bring in say your ps2 and someone else uses it and it kills them (I have no idea how it would, but anyway) they can actually sue the workplace even though it is your ps2.

[acidtone]

several places I have worked you can't bring anything from home because of electrical safety. They all have to have those test tags to show they are safe. This is because if you bring in say your ps2 and someone else uses it and it kills them (I have no idea how it would, but anyway) they can actually sue the workplace even though it is your ps2.
I take it that you live in America..? ;)

[nihil]

Hi, Aard~ is spot on.

I take it that you live in America..? no, that is English law, and probably true of the EU as they are mad keen on health and safety in the workplace.

I don't know the exact rules (it doesn't apply to mice and keyboards ;)) but it certainly applies to anything that connects to the mains electricity supply which is 13Amp 240v for wall sockets and 5Amp 240v for lighting.

The principles are quite old in English Law:

1. If somebody breaks into your premises and is electricuted by a faulty light switch..............you are liable!

2. An employee is an "agent" of their employer and he is liable for their actions.

Charity shops won't accept mains appliances because they would need a safety certificate :eek:

[Aardpsymon]

They just finished all the tests here. They did EVERYTHING. Printers, computers, print servers, switches....luckily they only made a visual inspection of the core stuff.

We are a bit loose with it here we do bring in stuff from home occasionally. But technically we shouldn't.

[mmelby]

I work in health care in the US and our Plant Operation department goes around and checks and tags all the equipment regularly (I think they only have to tag medical equipment). People are not supposed to bring anything from home but I think sometimes they do, until a manager sees it. :)

[fourdc]

Working in health care I'm surprised you'd get away with it at all. With HIPAA rules and all the privacy stuff we read about.

[Cider]

Nihil: Somebody breaks an entry and electricules himself/herself : the company is held reliable. - That is quite hectic in my opinion.

Here in South African they are quite leant about these sort of things. Alot of users bring their "Personal" laptops which they use for office use and then personal once they go home.

But having child porn shared on the network is quite stupid...

[nihil]

Cider, that is British Law. Just because the other party's "intentions were not honourable" (I take that quote from English case law) does not exonerate you from your obligations to public safety.

Similarly, if I knock down and kill a wanted murderer in the road I am still answerable to a manslaughter charge.

It all depends on your data protection legislation, but I am sure SA will catch up pretty quickly.

Personal laptops in the workplace and taking confidential data home are a definite no-no................. Veterans' Association, that UK finance house that got fined £960,000 and the Japanese Ministry of Defence?

Actually, I don't think that the guy was sharing his computer files, he was just using it to access file and application servers on the network.

:)