June 17, 2008 10:55 AM PDT

State worker cleared on child porn charges that were due to malware

A fired Massachusetts state worker has been exonerated of a charge of possessing child pornography after computer forensics showed that his work laptop was infected with malicious software that was surreptitiously visiting illegal Web sites.

Michael Fiola, 53, was fired as a worker's comp fraud investigator with the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents in March 2007 after IT administrators found cached images of child porn in the temporary Internet files in his browser, according to the Dark Reading security news site.

Fiola, described as being "computer illiterate," hired a forensics expert who found the evidence that was used to convince the court to drop the case last week. He remains unemployed and plans to sue the agency over his firing.

"Our lives have been hell," Fiola, a former state park ranger now living in Rhode Island told the Boston Herald. "I hope to recover my reputation, but our friends all ran."

His laptop initially attracted attention because its wireless usage was four times higher than that of his co-workers. But because the IT department hadn't properly configured the agency laptop and antivirus software wasn't working on the machine, it was riddled with Trojans and viruses, in addition to the malicious software that was bringing up the porn sites.

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) 53 comments (Showing first 20 comments)
by krosavcheg June 17, 2008 11:27 AM PDT
Looks like looking first, then leaping here is the lesson. Don't assume someone is guilty until you actually start doing your homework first. Wireless access of any sort should always have the caveat of who else might me attached or using it. I hope he gets millions.
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by Thomas, David June 17, 2008 11:53 AM PDT
Sounds to me like the IT staff should be fired
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by The_Decider June 17, 2008 12:25 PM PDT
Need anymore reasons to not use Windows? Before you idiots start braying about AV software, OSX and Linux don't need those cycle stealing, memory hogging programs to run safely.
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by kkohnen June 17, 2008 12:27 PM PDT
Nah. Post naked pictures of the IT staff on the internet.
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by thedreaming June 17, 2008 12:38 PM PDT
You're supposed to be innocent before proven guilty, not the other way around. I hope he wins his case and sues them out of business!
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by Seaspray0 June 17, 2008 12:50 PM PDT
"OSX and Linux don't need those cycle stealing, memory hogging programs.." Only according to you, Decider. You CAN'T prove OSX and Linux are 100% free from security holes, therefore they DO need protection. On the other hand, I can prove that the are not 100% free... if they were, then there would have never been written security updates for either. Therefore, they DO need protection. I can't beleive anyone would be stupid enough to believe their OS is 100% safe. Let me guess, you work for an IT department in the state of Massachusetts?
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by jkoskovics June 17, 2008 1:09 PM PDT
You know, it's real easy for an arrogant individual to take advantage of a person and make them a victim...again, rather than pay attention to the real story.
The issue is responsibility of the employer who failed in their required dilligence and as a result, create a victim out of someone they should have protected, educated, and respected.

A lesson to users not to be so trusting, especially of the "experts" who set them up...litterally! But as for the rest of his life, he may never regain the trust and respect of those who gave value to his life...his friends. That's a little more important than a petty, childish attitude about an operating system. It's not about a platform, and it's not about data...it's about something more important.
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by protagonistic June 17, 2008 1:11 PM PDT
I have to say you are both right and wrong, but then the post you replied to is also wrong. As someone who no longer runs Windows, but rather uses OS X and PC-BSD and occasionally Linux I can speak from experience.

Anyway, no OS presently out there will keep a determined idiot at the keyboard from malware. Some OSs do better than others at this but they all have security holes. That being said, it is a whole lot easier to secure OS X, BSD and Linux than it is to secure Windows. Your odds of getting infected with malware with a default setup are much higher with Windows.

I do monitor my systems for any unusual activity because the only secure system is one that is locked in a vault and has no power applied. Even with those precautions someone will eventually figure out a way to access it. :-)
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by grinningevild June 17, 2008 1:17 PM PDT
And I thought Massachusetts was moving towards adopting open source applications on everything.
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by Penguinisto June 17, 2008 1:22 PM PDT
While no OS is 100% safe from malware, I can say with certainty that if the guy used a Mac or Linux machine, he wouldn't have experienced this mess. OTOH, I'm fairly sure that the guy will likely never have to work another day of his entire life once his lawyers get done with the employer(s).
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by Penguinisto June 17, 2008 1:38 PM PDT
While no OS is 100% safe from malware, I can say with certainty that if the guy used a Mac or Linux machine, he wouldn't have experienced this mess. OTOH, I'm fairly sure that the guy will likely never have to work another day of his entire life once his lawyers get done with the employer(s).
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by unknown unknown June 17, 2008 1:48 PM PDT
That's the problem with sex crimes, especially ones that involve children, everyone assumes someone is guilty the moment they're accused. It doesn't help we have people like Nancy Grace whipping people into child predator hysteria, and proclaiming them guilty on national TV. It is a very serious problem when it ruins innocent lives.
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by The_Decider June 17, 2008 2:36 PM PDT
What the hell is wrong with these idiots:

'OSX is 100% secure so it is as vulnerable as windows and therefore needs AV'

"No one has ever put a default Windows install on the INTERNET that got exploited"

"The only time Windows gets exploited is when the user does something stupid,."

It would be funny if it wasn't for the fact that this fan boys truly believe it.
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by sanenazok June 17, 2008 3:32 PM PDT
I agree that this would not have been a problem if the government decided to use Macs. It would be simple: they would only be able to afford one or two computers, at the most and this would have never happened.
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by itguy2003 June 17, 2008 3:42 PM PDT
They found the pictures in his temporary Internet files ? So what were browser windows of child porn flying around on his screen and he did not notice or think to tell anyone. He probably was looking at the child porn. Alot of porn websites have viruses and malware on them. So just because he had some malware on his PC he is innocent??? He got off on a technicality. Old perv was looking the **** up himself.
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by russkeller June 17, 2008 3:47 PM PDT
You got a point. No matter what though justice was lost in this one. Either a bad guy got away or an innocent guy had his life destroyed living with that stigma.
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by Advacery June 17, 2008 3:54 PM PDT
This is not about Operating Systems. I use several of them. One person bashing another persons Operating System in childish.

This is about someone being terminated by an employer before there was a competent investigation into wrongdoing according to a court. Then there is the issue of the long term consequences of the unjustified termination which has yet to be decided.
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by wpcallaghan June 17, 2008 5:09 PM PDT
I don't know anything about Massachusetts labor laws, but in a lot of states the employer is perfectly in their right to fire an employee for having porn on their computer, regardless of whether or not they had any knowledge of it. In a case like this, there would be no recourse for the employee and no compensation, as long as the company followed proper procedures.
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by wpcallaghan June 17, 2008 5:09 PM PDT
I don't know anything about Massachusetts labor laws, but in a lot of states the employer is perfectly in their right to fire an employee for having porn on their computer, regardless of whether or not they had any knowledge of it. In a case like this, there would be no recourse for the employee and no compensation, as long as the company followed proper procedures.
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by Pause2Reflect June 17, 2008 10:07 PM PDT
Here's what will change as a result of this sad story: zip. Also, zilch, squat, and nada.

Prosecutors adore child porn cases. They enrage the public (justifiably) and appeal to the prurient subconscious, bringing more attention than any other type of case to the prosecutor -- along with a nice "child protecting hero" veneer. Add to this, over the past twenty years (and especially since 9/11) Americans have been tripping over each other in a non-race to see who can be more complacent about the disintegration of civil rights. The drivers for prosecution continue to firmly favor "shoot first, act questions later (or never)."

Maybe you're next. But of course, odds are you won't be, so don't worry about it.
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