Complain about a product or service

Consultant Hacks FBI's Computer System

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 6, 2006

Data Theft • 68,000 CalOptima Members at Risk in Data Breach • Express Scripts Extortion Scheme Widens • Technology Could Be Key To Stopping Unauthorized Charges • T-Mobile: No Hacking in Data Breach • T-Mobile Confirms Data Breach • Consumers Increasingly Concerned About Online Transactions • Are Identity Theft Services Worth the Cost? • Online Tools Help Spot Financial Fraud • Financial Fraud Hits 7.5 Percent Of Americans In 2008 • Feds Charge Mortgage Broker In Potential Data Breach • Millions of Credit Cards Exposed in Data Breach • 2008 Data Breach Total Soars • Bank Data Breach Threatens 248,000 in North Carolina • GPS Not Foolproof • Countrywide Warns Millions of Data Breach • Thieves Steal AT&T Laptop with Employee Data • Report: Data Breach Disclosure Laws Don't Affect Identity Theft • Patient Information Exposed in Data Breach at Walter Reed • Supermarket Chain Reports Data Breach • Report: Feds Still Not Doing Enough To Secure Data • Data Thieves Hit Georgetown University Students, Faculty • 800,000 Job Seekers At Risk In Gap Data Breach • TJX Data Breach Settlement Has Strings Attached • More ...

An outside contractor hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) breached the agency's computer network and gained access to the passwords of 38,000 employees, the Washington Post reported.

The consultant, Joseph Colon, was an employee of defense contractor BAE Systems with a top-secret security clearance.

According to Colon's lawyers, he was granted permission to hack the network on several occasions by agents at the Springfield, Illinois, field office where he worked.

Colon claimed that frustration with the slow pace of approval for routine assignments drove him to hack the network and gain access to the employee records, using "run-of-the-mill" hacker tricks and scripts that are freely available on the Internet.

The resultant hacks gave Colon access to high-risk information areas, such as the Witness Protection Program. Both the FBI and Colon's lawyers declined to provide more specifics regarding the case.

The FBI has suffered repeated embarrassments over its outdated computer systems and its expenditure of millions of dollars on a potential upgrade that was abandoned.

It also came under heavy scrutiny for extending a five-year, multimillion-dollar deal for technology services to ChoicePoint, the data broker most famous for being hacked by a ring of Nigerian identity thieves.

Government agencies have been dealing with issues of third-party security and improving data protection in wildly different ways, often depending on the agency's internal culture and its views on technology.

Many federal agencies -- including the FBI -- do not maintain proper oversight of the contractors who have access to Social Security numbers, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

Another GAO report found that the IRS had "significant weaknesses" in collecting and protecting taxpayer data. That report also mentioned lack of oversight and training for contractors as a potential security risk.

Government and business leaders have each admonished the other side to do more about protecting the data they collect.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) testified before Congress that data brokerage businesses like ChoicePoint should be more vigilant in protecting Social Security numbers, but that such collections were necessary to ensure the continuation of business that relies on customer information.

A survey conducted by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) found that the requirements for "shredding" enacted as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) does not go nearly far enough to ensure businesses destroy their paper data records, and that government should push for stronger data protection laws.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |