:) related dilbert / comic :
*http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2003-08-03/*<http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2003-08-03/> found via further conversations on the topic *http://it.slashdot.org/story/13/01/16/0354218/employee-outsourced -programming-job-to-china-spent-days-websurfing * itself found via Mamading :) On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 5:43 AM, Michel Bauwens <[email protected]>wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: nettime's employee of the the year <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 7:51 PM > Subject: <nettime> Software developer outsources own job and whiles away > shifts on cat videos > To: [email protected] > > > > > Software developer Bob outsources own job and whiles away shifts on cat > videos > > Verizon's hunt for firm's mysterious hacker exposes 'top worker' at firm > who let Chinese consultants log on to do his daily work > > guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 January 2013 18.12 GMT > > When a routine security check by a US-based company showed someone was > repeatedly logging on to their computer system from China, it naturally > sent alarm bells ringing. Hackers were suspected and telecoms experts were > called in. > > It was only after a thorough investigation that it was revealed that the > culprit was not a hacker, but "Bob" (not his real name), an "inoffensive > and quiet" family man and the company's top-performing programmer, who > could be seen toiling at his desk day after day and staring diligently at > his monitor. > > For Bob had come up with the idea of outsourcing his own job – to China. > So, while a Chinese consulting firm got on with the job he was paid to do, > on less than one-fifth of his salary, he whiled away his working day > surfing Reddit, eBay and Facebook. > > The extraordinary story has been revealed by Andrew Valentine, senior > investigator at US telecoms firm Verizon Business, on its website, > securityblog.verizonbusiness.**com<http://securityblog.verizonbusiness.com> > . > > Verizon's risk team was called by the unnamed critical infrastructure > company last year, "asking for our help in understanding some anomalous > activity that they were witnessing in their VPN logs", wrote Valentine. > > The company had begun to allow its software developers to occasionally > work from home and so had set up "a fairly standard VPN [virtual private > network] concentrator" to facilitate remote access. > > When its IT security department started actively monitoring logs being > generated at the VPN, "What they found startled and surprised them: an open > and active VPN connection from Shenyang, China! As in this connection was > live when they discovered it," wrote Valentine. > > What was more, the developer whose credentials were being used was sitting > at his desk in the office. > > "Plainly stated, the VPN logs showed him logged in from China, yet the > employee is right there, sitting at his desk, staring into his monitor." > > Verizon's investigators discovered "almost daily connections from > Shenyang, and occasionally these connections spanned the entire workday". > > The employee, whom Valentine calls Bob, was in his mid-40s, a "family man, > inoffensive and quiet. Someone you wouldn't look twice at in an elevator." > > But an examination of his workstation revealed hundreds of pdf invoices > from a third party contractor/developer in Shenyang. > > "As it turns out, Bob had simply outsourced his own job to a Chinese > consulting firm. Bob spent less than one-fifth of his six-figure salary for > a Chinese firm to do his job for him." > > He had physically FedExed his security RSA "token", needed to access the > VPN, to China so his surrogates could log in as him. > > When the company checked his web-browsing history, a typical "work day" > for Bob was: 9am, arrive and surf Reddit for a couple of hours, watch cat > videos; 11.30am, take lunch; 1pm, eBay; 2pm-ish, Facebook updates, > LinkedIn; 4.40pm–end of day, update email to management; 5pm, go home. > > The evidence, said Valentine, even suggested he had the same scam going > across multiple companies in the area. > > "All told, it looked like he earned several hundred thousand dollars a > year, and only had to pay the Chinese consulting firm about fifty grand > annually". > > Meanwhile, his performance review showed that, for several years in a row, > Bob had received excellent remarks for his codes which were "clean, well > written and submitted in a timely fashion". > > "Quarter after quarter, his performance review noted him as the best > developer in the building," wrote Valentine. > > Bob no longer works for the company. > > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: > http://mx.kein.org/mailman/**listinfo/nettime-l<http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l> > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected] > > > > > > -- > P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net > > <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: > http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens > > #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/ > > _______________________________________________ > P2P Foundation - Mailing list > http://www.p2pfoundation.net > https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation > >
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