The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) recently sent out a memo to employees telling them to stop engaging in behavior that was described as inappropriate use of the MDA network. The specific offenses, according to executive director John James, had to do with transmitting messages and accessing websites containing sexually explicit material - or in other words, watching porn at work.
One would think that surfing porn sites over a government network probably isn't the brightest idea but apparently some employees needed an extra reminder. Besides the fact that such behavior takes away from time they should be spend doing their designated duties, the one-page memo points out that these actions are in clear violation of federal and DoD regulations. Furthermore, navigating unsecure pornographic websites is a proven way to contract malware and viruses.
Agency spokesperson Rick Lehner said in an email to Bloomberg that there are more than 8,000 employees at the MDA and less than half a dozen were found to have accessed questionable content. He said that the MDA has a highly advanced monitoring system to detect intrusions and access to inappropriate websites. In this instance, the system worked as it should by reporting the incident to the appropriate officials.
An unnamed source that reportedly works as a government cyber security specialist told the publication that criminals and foreign intelligence services typically use pornographic websites to gain access to and harvest data from government and corporate-level networks.
According to the original memo, those responsible will face appropriate disciplinary action.