CPD Hacked

It was with laughter that I read the following:

Thursday, May 17, 2012
Hacked
We've been informed about "virus warning" type windows popping up on the Department computers lately. We're told it occurs dozens of times during the processing of a simple arrest.

Guess what happened? And guess who predicted it?
NATO protestors have infiltrated the CPD computers with a worm that is wreaking havoc across the board. 35th Street and OEMC are in a full panic. The entire Department Intranet is in danger of a meltdown on an unimaginable scale, just in time for a potential "mass arrest" situation this weekend that would bring the Department to a grinding halt. (from our e-mail)

Did you see that latest AdMin Fax that told everyone to change their passwords if they haven't been altered in a few years and that efforts were underway to have passwords changed every 90 days? That gaping security risk, pointed out by SCC readers almost a year ago, is coming home to roost. Good thing CPD trimmed the in-house I.T. people and never spent the money/effort on a decent internet security protocol.

This is going to cost big time. And be careful with those detachable drives - you might bring home presents for your own personal computer by accident.

I laughed even harder at this comment by Edison Park:

This is probably just the beginning. Chicago is an alpha city, the CPD is a huge and critical institution and there's no question the eShitheads will target us. Completely gutting our capacity for a real time IT emergency response will absolutely, positively, most certainly lead to a data catastrophe.

How would you like it if they get into the network and rustle up all the personnel info? Wouldn't it be 'thrilling' if the complete employee dossier of every CPD officer were posted to the internet, name, address, family info and all?

Why the utter fear that their fellow Chicagoans could know full well who amongst them are "Peace Officers"?

Go spend some time here before CATO screws it up and visit their archives and then spend some time here and read the writings of a former CPD Peace Officer and you will understand why they fear.

Just realize that cities ("alpha" or otherwise) have these types of problems and that is why "Peace Officers", more commonly called LEO's (Law Enforcement Officers) fear the citizenry- they know we know so many of them are the real thuggish criminals.

WP