TNB Night Owl – Virus Protection

Drinking beers and building a computer. Photo by Olof Werngren.

It’s comforting to realize just how tech-savvy our culture has become, but there remains the threat of overconfidence. As much of a punchline the Nigerian Prince scam might be, thousands still get caught by it, and variations of it, every year. “Password” and “Pa$$w0rd” remain among the most commonly used passwords for various sites.

Thankfully, the complexity of virus protection provides a measure of insulation for most people. We recognize that we need it, but by the same token we recognize that we’re not sufficiently proficient as programmers to keep up to date on the latest malware variants and code the corrective actions ourselves. Instead, we depend on protection from some experts who earn a significant reward for their diligence.

At least, most of us do. Then there was the Economic Development Administration.

In 2011, it was one of two federal agencies which discovered malware on some of its computers. Both agencies – the EDA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – employed professionals to clean the infected computers and to perform an analysis of potential risk. The malware was found to be a fairly common variety with a very low likelihood of being used for any sort of deep hack or cyberattack.

For the NOAA, everything ended there. The EDA had a different approach.

Their IT specialists, including their Chief Information Officer, failed to recognize the common malware. Furthermore, their IT specialists were so confident in their own abilities that they decided any malware unfamiliar to them had to be indicative of a state-sponsored cyberattack.

Their response was a complete shutdown, matched with physical assault. The EDA’s internal system was cut off from all other government networks, employee e-mail and messaging was eliminated, and the department began a systematic and thorough destruction of all electronic components which had any sort of connection to the system. Computers, mice, keyboards, monitors, printers, and even stationary cameras and televisions were smashed into component pieces.

More than $170,000 worth of equipment was junked in this way. What stopped the devastation was not the realization of their error; it was a lack of funds. The department heads had hired an outside agency to oversee the electronic purge, and they’d run out of money to pay them before all of the equipment could be destroyed. This was fortunate, as they had been contracted to eliminate items worth more than another $3 million.

A subsequent investigation revealed the mistake… which was then buried until the Inspector General’s report to the Department of Commerce was issued in 2013. By the time the report was released, all of the equipment had been replaced. Hopefully their IT staff and CIO were, as well.

Question of the night: What’s the most annoying software/malware/virus problem you’ve had to deal with?

About the opinions in this article…

Any opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website or of the other authors/contributors who write for it.

About AlienMotives 1991 Articles
Ex-Navy Reactor Operator turned bookseller. Father of an amazing girl and husband to an amazing wife. Tired of willful political blindness, but never tired of politics. Hopeful for the future.