Pwnd2Pwnr Posted January 9, 2013 Posted January 9, 2013 How's it hangin', Hak5? (To the left, I see)... I was having a nice conversation with a friend of mine whom is a Manager at a very well known company. He was telling me about an issue they had with an employee whom altered their Personnel file. He said he was not sure if this was illegal, per say... but wanted my opinion on whether or not this is, well, illegal. Company policies may differ; but I feel the bottom line is that the said employee defrauded the file. Apparently, the employee decided to erase names and times on an unknown amount of documents... including their W-2, write ups, etc. Question: Have any of you heard of similar situations which led to any legal grounds or decisions? It is not quite embezzlement and it is far from ethical... what is your take? I think it is deplorable to say the least. Not a way to "Stay Classy". Quote
digip Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 I'm not a lawyer, but I gather some law was broken somewhere if the question has to be asked. Ethics aside, if they messed with files they weren't authorized to access, regardless if its W2 and Tax data, or someones Avatar on their email, its computer fraud and abuse, and most likely, against the law in nearly every state of the US depending on what they did, and if the employer presses charges. Outside the US, not sure what the laws are, but you don't even need a company policy to arrest someone for something like this, since it would be covered under various state and federal laws, so I'd say, whomever did anything, most likely should fix it and walk away quietly lest they find them self in jail. If it was data that can't be replaced or changed back, and they get caught, well, no one going to feel sorry for them if they get caught. They'll get whatever they deserve depending on the laws involved. Quote
Pwnd2Pwnr Posted January 10, 2013 Author Posted January 10, 2013 Thanks, Digip; I am still unsure on "how" they were accessed... but I think action may have been taken already. Quote
digip Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Thanks, Digip; I am still unsure on "how" they were accessed... but I think action may have been taken already. Problem is, did they just do this with their own files, or have they been at it with many peoples files and that temptation of, "Hey, I can do this, wonder about Bob in accounting, hes a total dick, maybe I should just lose his login or tax records for last 4 years..". If they've gone and messed with their own data and admitted it, whats to say they haven't read private and personal data on others, whether they did anything with someone else's data or not, they could be able to access their tax data, then they can also do identity Theft, sell it, etc. Things can go south real quick if the person got caught too, because if anything else was breached, they could be blamed for things they had nothing to do with, so it would seem they've brought them self a world of shit down on top of them if they get caught or charged with anything. Just remember, we're no longer innocent until proven guilty. 9/11 and the patriot act and martial law is pretty much in effect, so you're damn well guilty until you can prove otherwise, and sometimes, just by association, even if you're completely innocent, if you've had a prior record, they will look to see who else associates with that person and,bam, you're now tied to something you had nothing to do with. Look at Adrian Lamo. I think hes a douche for what he did to Bradley Manning, but at the same time, if I had been through what Lamo has with our government, I'd be paranoid as shit to think every message is a setup, so I'd be more than quick to go to anyone if I thought there was wrong doing. Self preservation and fear, can make a person do things they may regret later, but in the short term, unless you're the one afraid for association with the material, you'd probably do the same thing. Most people would and its simple psychology. Especially people who've already been in prison and berated by people to confess to things they've never even done, scared people will be more than quick to turn others in. Quote
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