A little malware goes a long way

A report in the Boston Herald describes the sad story of Michael Fiola, a former investigator with the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents. To make a long story short, Fiola's state-issued notebook computer became infected with malware, and subsequently overloaded with pornography, including child pornography. IT staff noticed, Fiola was fired and the matter turned over to the Massachusetts State Police who filed a criminal complaint. According to Fiola, his friends all ran.

Now a forensic investigation of Fiola's notebook, performed by nationally recognized computer forensic analyst Tami Loehrs, has shown that the pornography got there via outside attacks through the malware compromise. Forensic investigations performed for the state Attorney General's office concurred, and the court cleared Fiola just recently.But the Department of Industrial Accidents isn't impressed.

They told the Herald "We stand by our decision."Go figure. As Loehrs told the Herald, "As soon as you mention child pornography, everybody's senses go out the window."In fact, the notebook had been running "corrupted virus-protection software" according to Loehrs. Since the state issued the notebook that raises the possibility it is culpable.The matter is far from over.

Fiola intends to sue the DIA for "destroying our lives."

Makes you think eh....