Unauthorized Web use has severe consequences

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Clark Staehle
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
The 100th Communications Squadron is continuing to crack down on unauthorized Web access after a recent string of violations. 

"It's a priority right now because there has been such an increase in activities since the holidays," said Tech. Sgt. Matthew Mullen, 100th CS. "That was a really busy time for us. We were catching people once a day. It has slowed down a little bit since then, but we're still catching a lot of people." 

Restricting the Web sites Airmen can access is necessary for several practical reasons.
"Depending on what you're accessing, you're putting the network at risk for spyware and virus attacks," Sergeant Mullen said. 

Many of the Web sites that have games and pornography also use programs that can burrow themselves into a network and steal information like Social Security numbers and passwords. 

Purposely circumventing the network-security measures already put in place by the Air Force to get to unauthorized sites is also illegal. There are a number of ways to do this and they all lead to trouble. 

"Intentionally and willfully bypassing the network security is looked at as being more serious than looking at porn," said Master Sgt. Brian Niemi, 100th CS. 

Additionally, government employees can't use government assets to make money or for personal gain, which includes viewing auction sites and sites that monitor stocks.
Once the 100th CS identifies a machine that has accessed unauthorized material, the information is turned over to the security forces, which may confiscate the computer, copy its contents, and sift through the files. 

"I go to the sites they visited to verify that one, the site is pornographic in nature, and two, no child pornography was viewed," said Investigator Stacey Moore, 100th Security Forces Squadron, who when working these type of cases spends the majority of his work week researching any findings the 100th CS reports. "Then we'll clone the computer and record dates, times, exactly how many pictures were viewed, and what, if anything, was downloaded. Once all that is completed, I interview the suspect and write a report of investigation." 

After the sites have been identified and the ROI is completed, the case is turned over to the 100th Air Refueling Wing legal office, which reviews it and makes a recommendation for punishment. 

"It's a violation of Article 92 (of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), which is violation of a lawful order or regulation," said Capt. Lisa Richard, 100th ARW judge advocate chief of military justice. "Depending on the number of offenses and what you've done, (the punishment could be) an Article 15, a court martial or a (letter of reprimand). What frequently happens is an Article 15, and with Article 15 punishment, you can get be reduced in rank, you can have money taken, forfeiture of pay, get extra duty, be restricted to base, get a reprimand - and it stays on your record forever." 

Visiting pornographic sites, games sites or other inappropriate material on a government computer will not only leave a black mark on a record, but offenders also lose total network access, including their e-mail accounts. 

"You're trained on a yearly basis for information awareness," Sergeant Mullen said. "So all this stuff should reiterate that you're on these machines, and we're allowing you to use them to accomplish your mission. But, when you step out of line there are consequences."