So, what do you think's going on in the head of the schnook who was working for a Maryland defense contractor, and had the blueprints to Marine One, the President's helicopter, lifted from their laptop. Which they'd made vulnerable because they had P2P file-sharing software on it. (Story source: MSNBC.)
Honestly, I really didn't think I was doing anything wrong-wrong.
I mean, I was doing it on my own time, which - given the hours I work - I really don't have much of.
I mean, I work from home all the time, so what if I occasionally do a bit of home from work?
I mean, everyone file-shares, don't they?
I mean, I read that creative artists actually make more money when people share their copyright materials online, because once people see who good that music/film/article is they'll want to step up and buy the real thing.
I mean, content should roam free, shouldn't it?
I mean, who does it hurt if I get a copy of an album that I probably wouldn't have bought if it wasn't free?
I mean, who wants to pay twenty-bucks for a video you'll watch once and it will be on cable for free in a couple of days anyway?
I mean, look at all the freeware out there. What's with these lousy software companies thinking they can charge us for some app when I can do almost all the same things with something free, anyway?
I mean, what's the Internet for, if it's not for making friends all around the world - it's like having a million pen-pals all around the world, without having to buy a pen, paper, or one of those expensive overseas stamps.
No, I wouldn't think of swiping a copy of People Magazine from the rack at the checkout counter. Come on, that would be, like, stealing.
I mean, this may be what's running through the person's head, if that person is not now completely absorbed in keeping his or her job, and/or finding a new one. (Good luck with that!)
If you missed the story, Tiversa, which helps companies avoid and remedy peer-to-peer file sharing security breaches, announced a couple of days ago that they'd found the blueprints for Obama's chopper on a computer in Iran. (As in 'axis of evil' Iran, if that category remains operative. Other fun destinations where the specs were found: Pakistan, Yemen, Qatar, and China. What a relief to find out that there are no countries on the list who might be inclined to do us any harm, don't you think?)
It's not clear whether Tiversa was working for the defense contractor, or just found the files when they were doing their routine sniffing around to see what highly classified or other sensitive info is floating around there. In either case, props to them for the marketing value of their eye-catching/spy-catching work.
Not only did Tiversa find the files in Tehran, they were able to trace it back to its source, pinpointing the precise computer on which someone who probably just wanted to download some tunes opened up their company-issued laptop to a whole lot of vulnerability. And themselves to a whole lot of job hurtin'.
Former US Army General Wesley Clark, a Tiversa advisor, said:
"I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went."
Embarrassed is probably not quite the right word. Unemployed is probably closer to the mark. Unless that person was so all-fired essential to the defense contractor's mission, and has such irreplaceable skills and knowledge that the company just can't go on without him/her. And what's the likelihood of that.
And if the defense contractor didn't have rules about downloading strange software, or file sharing, or know that they were vulnerable, they have to be feeling a tiny bit chagrined about how they're going to look when they go to answer their next RFI.
Tiversa has acknowledged that they're not sure "how sensitive" the Marine One information is.
For all I know, the specs of Marine One are on the back of Wheaties boxes - or on the front, even, where they could take the place of a picture of Michael Phelps. They may be so widely known that no harm can come of this - we all know Marine one's kind of khaki green, and has a big rotor-thingy on its tale, and that it makes the White House lawn ripple when it lands the First Family on their return from Camp David. So maybe none of its any big secret.
Still, I would truly hate to be the employee who, while eating lunch one day, decided they wanted a copy of Coldplay's Viva La Vida.
Some things you really do live to regret, and for this poor bastard, that urge to file share is likely on of them.
When you work for a defense contractor, in no way can this be a good career move. And if you're the defense contractor, in no way can you laugh this one off.
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