Hillsborough Insults From Whitehall Computers

[Jomlett]

Government launches inquiry after Hillsborough insults traced to Whitehall computers...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/government-launches-inquiry-after-hillsborough-insults-traced-to-whitehall-computers-9285036.html

[emmie]

i heard this on the news this morning, comments made between 2009-2012 i think they said, how hard is this going to be to track back - especially
if computers are used by any number of people. it is awful for the families all the same,

[lady-janine]

probably just whitewash. going through the actions to look as though something is happening.

[Jomlett]

"...this network covers thousands of computers and further investigations by IT experts would be needed to narrow this down."

An independent inquiry would certainly find more than a government inquiry but that is not going to happen.

[emmie]

this would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, and unless a person signs their name to an e mail, how would they know who was responsible.in our work place, people used others computers, and often their logins,

[jno]

that might depend on securty procedures, emmie. One person using another's computer was pretty rare where I worked - though of course the guilty party here may have done just that to cover his or her tracks.

[douglas9401]

Could they not just say sorry and that lessons will be learned?
That'll nip it in the bud and be cheap too.

[emmie]

jno, most of our staff hot desked, so log in weren't always protected.
i have to say that whilst this is an awful thing for the families, i seriously
can't see how anyone can pin it on an individual, some people are just malicious

[Gromit]

Government computers have been used to insert insulting revisions to Wikipedia entries on the Hillsborough disaster.

Computers on Whitehall's secure intranet were used again in 2012 to change the phrase "You'll never walk alone" to "You'll never walk again" and later "You'll never w*** alone".

Logs of the IP addresses of computers used to post the revisions revealed they wee made by computers based in government departments including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Treasury and the Office of the Solicitor General.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/10786380/Insulting-revisions-to-Wikipedia-entry-on-Hillsborough-made-from-Government-computers.html

If this was one person or several, it shows very poor judgement. I would say it is a sackable offence, but if they do trace the culprit I expect it will be quietly dealt with behind closed doors. Unless someone makes a complaint to the police.

[emmie]

who is to say the person or persons still work there>

[youngmafbog]

I doubt very much it is possible to trace who made an update to Wikipedia. Unlike emails input to web sites is not usually logged like that.

Plus are there guest network ports? Is there Wi-fi really locked down for the internet? Many companies have the internet outside of the Trusted Zone to protect their systems. Their vulnerability to attack is therefore much greater.

[Gromit]

I would hope that not just anyone can use a computer on the Government's secure intranet - especially in the Treasury. Wikipedia will know when these revisions were made, and Whitehall will have a record of Staff who were working at those times. I woyld also assume they record who logs in and when.

I would not be surprised if they haven't already worked out who it was who posted these insults. It will be interesting to see if they are revealed.

As the time period spans both the last Labour Government and the time he Coalition has been in office, it would be fair to assume this is a civil servant not an elected representative.

[Gromit]

Ymb

Intranets are secured, resticted and logins are monitored and the data kept. That is how they would trace a leak or spying.

It is different from free internet.

[ToraToraTora]

so can anyone update wikipedia? surely they need some sort of identifiable login id

[jno]

no, you can do it yourself, just click on "Edit" on any page.

[DrFilth]

from google

Wikipedia:About - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About‎
Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism. ... differing from paper-based reference sources in important ways. Unlike printed encyclopedias, Wikipedia is continually created and updated, with articles on ...

[Gromit]

Tora
Anyone can edit wikipedia, but there is a track changes function. Malacious changes such as these do not last long. Contentious information often causes edit wars where info is constantly being added and deleted by editors. I think that was the case for George W Bush's Drink Driving conviction.

[ToraToraTora]

hang on so why isn't wikipedia full of vandilised articles? I mean in the case of prominent people there will always be some troll with an axe to grind.

[ToraToraTora]

Ok gromit your post was not there when I started typing

[jno]

there's a lot of vandalism, but it is usually found and removed quickly by returning to the previous version

[youngmafbog]

Gromit, is Wiki now on the Govenments intranet then?

No, I didnt think so. The IP address from the intranet would be RP'd before going through the outerzone and into the real world. I doubt very much that these departments would store all the information on the outside of their firewall where their guest login and Wifi would be. to the outside world the IP would be a Government server but certainly not an IP of an individual on the other side of the DMZ.

Even if someone did go on the Wiki site from inside, are you honestly telling me these departments are logging every keystroke or even site and exact time of access of an internet site? They will have tracking software but I doubt it stores these sorts of levels or if it did not for very long as the data would be enormous - and for what gain?