Even someone like me with a broad knowledge of internet dangers isn't necessarily a tech whiz at maintaining a laptop. And when an innocent employee uses a poorly configured laptop, malware and porn can pile on with every Internet access. He loses his job but ultimately good IT forensics saves the day. This is Michael Fiola's story.
Remember a few years ago we heard about Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in suburban Connecticut who was accused of purposely exposing children in her classroom to online porn? Ultimately, once decent computer forensics were used on the computers in her classroom, it was shown that the inadvertant appearance of online porn during normal Internet searches had more to do with malicious code and spyware on those school computers than any action taken by Ms. Amero. There are similar issues afoot in the example of poor Michael Fiola, accused of possessing pornography on his government employer-owned laptop. I'm not the only one to notice similarities, as shown in this story on Security Focus.
What saddens me in both cases is the ease with which we (the public) will believe the guilt of our neighbors and friends when it comes to online porn. Of course, viewing online porn is an incredibly common activity and one that can cause terrible harm to individuals, families and children. And we are all on "alert" for evidence of sex-related crimes in our communities.
In the United States, our judicial system relies upon the belief that we are innocent until proven guilty. When it comes to salacious accusations, we need to remind ourselves to allow the court system to proceed and hold our own judgment until the facts are in. Even a college friend of mine who is a parent in Ms. Amero's school, even she believed that Ms. Amero "must have done this on purpose."
Spam, spyware, viruses, Trojans, "bots". These are just some of the tools used by the cybercriminal industry in order to achieve their financial aims. If you are not terribly sophisticated about your computer and you are not using internet security software AT ALL TIMES you are connected to the Internet or another computer or on a network, you are highly vulnerable and could be the next Amero or Fiola.
Don't let that happen to you.