By Carl Weiss
Everyone has heard of the Ghost
of Christmas Past, right? Well, today’s
blog is a twist on that theme as we explore the problems that occur as the
result of employees being fired or put out to pasture. Like it or not, having to deal with the
digital footprints left by former staffers can be problematic to say the
least. In the best case scenario,
someone needs to be assigned to pick up where they left off in areas such as social
networking, file management and even online security. In the worst case, former employees have been
known to rifle their employer’s server, plant malware or even lock their former
bosses out of their own systems. Before
you start experiencing digital things that go bump in the night, let’s take a
hard look at a number of cases involving the ghosts of employees past.
Working the Web of Deceit
In 2010, a major
defense contractor (Lockheed) had its email system crashed for six hours after one
terminated employee sent 60,000 coworkers a personal email laced with malware The contractor was then forced to fly in a
Microsoft rescue squad to repair the damage.
More recently, a terminated
computer technician at a New York publisher (Forbes) caused five
of the publisher’s servers to crash. As
a result all the information that had been stored on the servers was erased and
none of the data was able to be restored. The losses sustained were in excess
of $100,000.
If you think that’s bad, an
engineering firm suffered $10 million in losses when a
terminated network manager unleashed a data bomb in the network he helped
create.
Bear in mind that the defense
contractor, the publisher and the engineering firm were all major players that
had in their employ teams of skilled programmers and technicians whose job it
was to safeguard their electronic assets.
If they’re vulnerable to attack by former insiders, what do you think
that says about the cyber security of smaller firms?
When the Attack Becomes Personal
Far from being relegated to eSabotage,
disgruntled former employees have been known to get personal when they are out
for revenge. A blog by hitc.com called, “10 Ways Fired Employees Got
Revenge on their Bosses,” included
the following:
“A former IT manager received a suspended jail sentence
for illegally hacking into his old company’s IT systems and rigging his former
boss’s Powerpoint presentation to display pornographic photos.”
“An unhappy ex-employee who was made redundant, hacked into
his bosses email and sent obscene messages to the senior management team and
the company
board.”
“A disgruntled ex-employee posted a listing for 'free
household and garage contents', quoting his former boss's address. The
listing claimed the homeowners were moving to Puerto Rico and didn't want
to keep anything. The ad indicated anyone could come down and take
whatever they want. Investigators say the listing gave directions to
the home, and even provided the garage code.”
“An angry employee who was given 4 weeks notice used the
company credit card to get a year’s supply of 'male enhancement' pills
delivered to a variety of senior staff around the office.”
Are you starting to detect a
pattern here? Hell hath no fury like an
employee burned. Terminated employees
have been known to do everything from destroying equipment or a company’s
reputation, to taking out their frustration on bosses or coworkers who they
feel were responsible for their downfall.
In today’s wired world, it’s all too easy for anyone to talk trash
online. Worse is when an ex-employee has
uncovered a boss or coworker’s password in order to make it seem as though the
victim is the one who was talking trash.
While terminating an employee
is always an unpleasant task, it is important to remember that not all those
who are fired are going to take the matter lying down. The problem is that while most businesses
have some form of hiring manual, I have yet to see a company create a firing
manual. Aside from brushing off the
psychological shock to the system that being terminated has on most people, the
majority of HR departments in businesses large and small as a rule shrug off creating
procedures that can mitigate the damage likely to be caused by former
employees.
Locking the Barn Door
Here are the top 5 items that
need to be addressed before any employee is given his or her walking papers:
1. How much access does the employee have to the company’s
servers and intranet?
2. What kind of company communication is the employee
privy to?
3. Does the employee have a company-issued smartphone,
tablet or laptop?
4. How long will it take you to change or delete all
related company passwords?
5. What email lists, customer lists and company intranets
does the employee have access?
While every company
automatically restricts an ex-employees access to the company’s premises and
bank accounts, you’d be surprised to learn how few conduct an audit of all the
electronic means through which an employee can gain access to potentially
disruptive technology. Don’t find out
the hard way like the folks who manage Chicago O’Hare Airport. In September 2014, more than 2,000 flights were cancelled and pandemonium ensued when an employee who was
facing a transfer, sabotaged the air traffic control center after posting a
suicide note on Facebook.
A quote from Business Insider
read:
“Authorities
say a contract employee started a fire Friday morning in the basement of a
control center in the Chicago suburb of Aurora and then attempted to commit
suicide by slashing his throat. Brian Howard, 36, of Naperville, was charged
with destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities, a felony. The FBI said
Howard remains hospitalized and no court date has been scheduled.”
“As
of midday Saturday, total Chicago flight cancelations for the day stood at more
than 700 — still a damagingly high number, but an improvement. Southwest
Airlines, the dominant carrier at Midway, had hoped to resume a full flight
schedule Saturday, but had to cancel all flights between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
CDT.”
“Lines
remained long at O'Hare, which is a major U.S. hub. Many travelers stranded
overnight slept on cots provided by the airport, in scenes reminiscent of
winter storm disruptions.”
Neither the FBI nor the TSA had any comment to make
regarding the incident. Republican
Senator Mark Kirk had this to say:
"Chicago
O'Hare International Airport cannot be brought to a screeching halt. I want to see not only an immediate review by
the FAA of the screening process at the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control
Center in Aurora, but also a report within 30 days outlining changes the FAA
will make to prevent any one individual from having this type of impact on the
heart of the United States economy."
The moral of the story is
that even after spending billions of dollars to keep out terrorists and hijackers,
all it took to shut down one of the world’s busiest airports was a disgruntled
employee with a gas can and a match. With
that in mind, if you own or manage a business that hires and fires, you need to
take steps to ensure your firm isn’t blindsided by the ghosts of employees
past.
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