Federal Government Information Technology

Caught in the act: USDA blocks social media over employee porn use

Federal Times: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is moving to block a number of social media sites from agency networks after a September 2017 memo from the Inspector General found that there had been a “significant increase” in employees accessing pornographic material on government-issued devices.

“Since 2015, the OCIO has referred 229 [Agriculture Security Operations Center] ‘network usage notice’ referrals to USDA OIG involving USDA employees and/or contractors accessing websites on government equipment which contain pornography and possible child pornography,” Ann Coffey, assistant inspector general for investigations, wrote in the memo.

“This employee misconduct is preventable, and it unnecessarily exposes USDA and its systems to significant risk. Websites which disseminate pornographic material have historically have proven themselves to be a network attack vector and, as such, present an ideal opportunity for those individuals who seek to compromise a USDA employee or contractor.”

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