IT: Hotbed of Scandal

5:50 PM -- IT suppliers love scare tactics, so it's no surprise they're gleeful about recent misuse of technology resources.

According to Orchestria, a vendor of email management software, for instance, the last eight weeks turned up "unprecedented" levels of email blundering, including a "punk" whose company-wide email blast "pummeled premier HMO" Kaiser Permanente when regulators and press caught wind of mismanagement complaints.

In other instances cited by Orchestria, the CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts quit when his "salacious" emails to a female employee came to light; Wal-Mart Stores sued some former execs for carrying on an illicit romance via the company's email servers; and White House officials acknowledged abuse of federal email accounts.

And where are those Intel emails relevant to the litigation with AMD?

Scandal is brewing elsewhere, too. AirTight Networks, which makes wireless intrusion detection solutions, cautions that sensitive data can be breached using wireless WiFi technology. Cyber-Ark Software, which makes password security solutions, says a study reveals that "one in three of IT employees admit to snooping through company systems and peeking at confidential information such as private files, wage data, personal emails, and HR background, just by using the special administrative passwords that give IT workers privileged and anonymous access to virtually any system."Bottom line? IT resources are prey to snooping, pilfering, and invading forces, sometimes ones lurking inside the company!

The one I'm waiting for? Iron Mountain tapes hidden in a pumpkin patch.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch