Former IBC Employee Hacked Personnel Documents

OIG investigated allegations that an unknown individual(s) remotely logged into a Department of Interior (DOI) Interior Business Center (IBC) system administrator's computer through another IBC employee’s system, and retrieved an unknown number of personnel documents. 

 

We found that Dana Beach, a retired IBC IT specialist accessed IBC systems without authorization seven times after her retirement.  She also exceeded her authorization by accessing stored communications 17 times while with IBC.

 

We also found that another IBC employee, a system administrator, shared his password on a regular basis with Beach, and maintained a list of IBC employees’ passwords in violation of DOI policy. We could not determine that the system administrator had any knowledge of the Beach’s computer intrusions.

 

Beach pleaded guilty to one charge of computer intrusion, a misdemeanor, in the U.S. District Court. The court ordered restitution and 2 years of probation. Beach was also debarred from participating in Federal contracting until October 13, 2018. The other employee was issued a letter of reprimand for sharing his administrative password. 

 

This is a summary of an investigative report that was issued internally to the U.S. Department of the Interior.