pornography21

Analysts: Child Porn Hidden on Corporate Networks
By Sharon Gaudin
Child pornography is hidden on virtually every large corporate network,
according to security experts. While it's common to hear stories of workers being
fired for downloading pornographic images onto their systems, and it's even
more common to hear people complain of pornographic spam, industry watchers
say the problem goes even further. Child pornography -- explicit images and text
dealing with underage children -- can be easily found on nearly every large
network -- be it corporate, academic or government. ''If you've got a big company
system, I can almost guarantee that you have child pornography on it,'' says
Kenneth Citarella, deputy chief of investigations with the Westchester County
District Attorney's Office. ''It's there somewhere.'' And analysts and law
enforcement say it's not simply a case of someone accidentally opening an
offensive spam message. ''We're not talking about that one click to open and then
'Oh, my God' and delete,'' says William Eyres, chief executive officer of the Joint
Council on Information Age Crime. ''That's not the problem. It's a different level.
Someone downloading thousands of pictures is a different story.'' Edward Appel,
chief operating officer of the Joint Council, agrees with his colleague, adding that
there's 'almost a 100%' probability of finding child porn on corporate networks.
''They think if nobody is standing over their shoulder, it's a private act,'' says
Appel, who notes that it's found both on hard drives and shared storage. ''They
think they can get away with it but it's discoverable. The evidence is easily
found.'' And the person downloading it onto the network, might not even work in
that company, according to Charles Kolodgy, a research manager with industry
analyst firm IDC. ''It might not even be because someone in your company is doing
it,'' says Kolodgy. ''Someone outside could have found a way in and now they have
all that storage space.'' No matter how it gets there, having child pornography on
a corporate network causes a litany of legal issues -- from creating a hostile work
environment to criminal liability. Security and law enforcement experts have
differing opinions on whether or not a company is held liable for illegal content
sitting on its network. Some say if company executives don't know it's there,
they're not responsible for it. Others disagree. Most say IT managers need to go
looking for it. And all of them agree that once it's found, it needs to be reported to
police. ''Do not delete and forget it,'' says Citarella from the DA's office. ''There
may be a real child at risk. You ignoring it may allow him to continue abusing...
and then your company may face catastrophic liability. You won't write a check to
that child's parents. You'll give them a deed to corporate headquarters.'' IDC's
Kolodgy says IT administrators need to check their systems for illegal content
regularly -- to both have control over their networks and to eliminate and report
illegal activity. Kolodgy notes that a lot of administrators check for and wipe out
mp3 files when they're doing backups. They also should be checking for any
anomalies, such as the passing of data files outside the network, that would hint
that something is going on that shouldn't be. All the analysts agree that the best
way to head the problem off is to create a policy that restricts corporate Internet
usage for anything but strictly business purposes. Users should have no
expectations of privacy when using company equipment and services. Appel of
the Joint Council on Information Age Crime says IT administrators need to not
only create the policy, but they need to make sure that every employee knows
about it and agrees to it. He suggests giving workers periodic reminders and he
also recommends having a pop-up window that appears when a computer is
booted up. The window will show the corporate policy and by clicking on it,
employees acknowledge it and agree to it.