Web-Surfing Employees, Part 2: They may be the Pirate, but you get to pay the gold Bullion!
By Justin E. Gehrke, CISSP, MCSA, Security+, A+
In the last article, I talked about some credit card vulnerabilities posed by Point of Sales (POS) computers with internet connectivity. In this article, though, we’ll discuss the threat from pirates. That’s right. It’s not a typo. I said pirates. Instead of wearing an eye patch, a hooked hand or a peg leg, this pirate receives a W-2 from you at the end of the year and has to be reminded of the difference between a break and a sabbatical.
The most newsworthy legal liabilities relating to internet traffic involve copyright infringement or the electronic piracy of music, movies, television shows, software applications, and computer games. Are these all 14-year old kids locked in their bedrooms? No! These pirates come in all age and size. More than likely, you know one. If you are a truly lucky employer or manager, you have one sitting in your offices, quietly honing his pirating skills. Where do they find it? How do you download it? I will avoid going into detail, since I don’t want to add to the problem.
