Home Use Systems

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The practice of telecommuting is growing. Whether this involves an employee who works from home full or part-time or employees who simply have the capability to access their mail and files remotely, this introduces new risks into the environment.

If the home computer is provided by the company, the company probably has the authority to search the computer. This almost certainly does not extend to the authority to seize the computer. The employee must provide the system for examination. If the employee refuses, this is grounds for either separation or prosecution .

The problem with this is obvious. The employee knows that an investigation is underway and has the time and opportunity to clean incriminating evidence from the computer prior to turning it over. It might be possible to craft a cover story (" Turn in your home computer so we can upgrade the email software"), but it is likely that the employee will suspect something.

If the system belongs to the employee, the company has no inherent authority to search. The only recourse in this case is to seek the assistance of law enforcement. If the company can make a convincing case for prosecution and can provide sufficient probable cause for a search, the law enforcement authorities can seize the computer with a warrant . In this case, the authorities will almost certainly conduct the forensics examination as well. The incident response team might be asked to assist (and should volunteer to do so) by providing specific information on which to search. There is a risk to this option because a search of the computer by law enforcement might discover other information unrelated to the original incident. This information could carry liability to the company. Examples include copies of pirated software or pornography if it is determined that the company was aware of its presence and failed to act on this knowledge.

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Incident Response. A Strategic Guide to Handling System and Network Security Breaches
Incident Response: A Strategic Guide to Handling System and Network Security Breaches
ISBN: 1578702569
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 103

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