Pro Tip: If You Run A Prison, Maybe Don't Give The Guy In Jail For Computer Fraud The Job Of Reprogramming Your Computers

from the just-a-suggestion dept

Wed, Sep 30th 2009 10:43am — Mike Masnick

Let's see.... you run a prison and you need to do some work on the computer system. Do you (a) hire a competent professional or (b) hand over the computer system to an inmate who's in jail for computer fraud, involving phishing scams? Apparently, a prison in the UK went with option (b) and then had to deal with being entirely locked out of the computer system, after the guy hacked around and changed everyone's passwords. Apparently, that prison-work program needs a few tweaks...

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Filed Under: fraud, jail

17 Comments

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Joseph Durnal, 30 Sep 2009 @ 10:55am

Rehabilitation
I always hope that even those who have done wrong can right themselves and return to be productive members of society. I actually worked on jail computer systems before on contract, most of the IT folks were clueless. What could be better for one accepting responsibility for their wrongs than the oppritinity to maintain their skills and provide a service. But folks like this give criminals a bad rep. :)
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SteveD (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:10am

Hey, it worked in the Shawshank Redemption...
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Valkor, 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:13am

Typo alert
"your computers", not "you computers"
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Robert Ring (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:19am

And yet it sounded so good on paper.
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Mike Masnick (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:22am

Re: Typo alert
Oops. Fixed. Thanks.
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Jon B. (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:37am

Re: Rehabilitation
Yep. I used to communicate with one particular jail, and I knew what person to ask for when I had a question. It was long before I figured out that the person I was talking to was an inmate on work "release" (not really release if he stays in the building I guess)

I can't imagine that working in a *prison* setting, though.

And yeah, clueless IT people. I could tell you stories at both ends of the spectrum - one jail whose booking database had an XML api, and others where toothless Jimmy was responsible for all the computer thingies.
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Beta, 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:38am

Good news!
Havard: "Boss, guess what! they gave me control of a computer network here in the prison!"
Luthor: "At last!..."
Havard: "And I vandalized it!"
Luthor: "...What?"
Havard: "Yeah, I messed up the password files and locked 'em all out! You should have seen their faces! Now they won't be able to give us that new TV system for months!"
Luthor: "Doug, next time you're in the yard I want you to tell that to the biggest, meanest-looking con you can find."
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:40am

Re: Typo alert
assho...I mean hole
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2009 @ 11:43am

Re: Good news!
yea I smirked when it seems that all the dude did was the equivalent of a high school/college prank instead of messing up records.
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ajgajg1134 (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 12:10pm

Wow. . .
Somehow I'm not surprised. I've seen this many times before, though usually its a high school/college student that felt like screwing around when the school blocked them. That prison deserved it, clearly whoever made this decision wasn't tech savvy at all, or the prisoner was really convincing.
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EF #2399162, 30 Sep 2009 @ 12:30pm

Changing passwds?
Hell, I'd be looking into changing release dates myself.. But what do I know..
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2009 @ 12:55pm

helpful inmate
He as a helpful inmate... just making the system secure. Not everyone should have their password the same was their username.
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slackr (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 1:23pm

Aiding and abetting
Surely this treads close to the line of handing a free fix to a crack addict? You'd think it was almost criminal in itself...I thought many parole conditions state that offenders like these stay away from technology for a given period of time...perhaps that doesn't count when you are already in jail!
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Bradley Stewart, 30 Sep 2009 @ 1:49pm

The Next Thing That They Will
realize is that he changed his sentence and has already released himself. Hope he sends them a nice post card from rio de janeiro.
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Call me Al (profile), 30 Sep 2009 @ 2:52pm

Re: Changing passwds?
Wouldn't have worked. The prison system is so luddite in the UK that they have all that kind of thing in hardcopy and in triplicate. Though considering they let the inmates loose on the computer system it no longer seems so stupid.

From the six months I worked in a prison back in 2002 this doesn't surprise me. Most were utterly clueless about computers and I was often asked to print copies of documents which were freely available on the shiny new computer system and post them all round the offices. There was even one member of staff (a typist) who refused to let them replace her old computer which was no capable of using the updated system and so was not internet compatible. She ended up with two computers on her desk, one for typing documents and one purely so she could access the internet. She was, in short, a staggeringly stupid old bat.
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the orang3box, 1 Oct 2009 @ 2:29am

Like a bail out
kind of like giving a bunch of American bankers billions of dollars after they lost billions..HUH?
Duh
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