Accused of hacking work computer

[Amie]

The state or country I am talking about is: Georgia

I received a letter today (I am currently out of work on Worker's Comp due to an on the job injury last month) from my employer. In it it states I am being terminated immediately based on the following information:

On or about February 23, and for several subsequent days, the computer system of [company name withheld] was broken into. The IP address of the hacker was traced and discovered to be that of [me]. Files were seized from the [company name] system. These files were not in any way related to any projects for which [me] was employed. Additionally, company e-mail accounts belonging to [company name] employees were broken into, again from [me] IP address.

Given that the activity described in the above paragraph is considered to be malicious, as well as a violation of federal statutes, the decision has been made to terminate [me] employment at [company name] immediately.

Okay, folks, I have no where near the computer expertise to do any of this. I'm doing good to check my company email from home, much less access the server or anything. I don't have a clue as to how my IP address could be linked to any of this.

Nor do I have any idea what 'files' were supposedly seized. My harddrive had crashed at work about the time that this supposedly happened so I didn't even have access to my computer at work for a week.

This just blows my mind. Anyone have any ideas on whether this is possible? or whether I may have been set up? There is a girl that works there that knows computers inside and out...she is also engaged to the computer guy who set our server and whole system up. She has made no secret about wanting my job and has even bragged about being able to pull files off the server at home to work on them and then uploading the stuff back to the server the next day.

But all of that still doesn't explain how my IP address got involved. I'm assuming they are talking about my home IP address.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Amie

 

[RyTRiX]

There are many possibilities of what could be going on.

a) You could have a worm/trojan that could be giving somebody from your workplace control of your computer, this can be prooven if you do not waste time by having your ISP checking any connections to your computer from any local IPs.

b) You could have somebody directly accessing your computer without your knowledge.

There are a few more possibilities I could list after getting more information. Do you use AOL? If not who is your ISP?

 

[wjnwjn]

Same problem

I did not have a problem with my employer, but I do have a problem with an organization claiming I wrote things about someone on a forum site. Someone did steal my IP address, which is very easy to do if it comes off of a central server as in my employer.

When this all happen with me, I did not know much about computers other then turning it on and typing. Now because of what has happen to me, my research has allowed me to understand that anyone can use my IP address which does not mean it was me using the computer. My site has just not an IP address, it has a subnet mask number, it has a router and then each computer is assigned what they call a DHCP client number.

So this tells me anyone from anywhere can claim to be me just by using my employer's server and its IP address. Then anyone can call my employer and asking is XYZ your IP address without asking about the other numbers. People automatically think if you work somewhere or have a computer and you have a general IP address, it must be you. Guilty until proven innocent.

The bottom line, I would believe your employer would have to prove it was you by having more then just an IP address. Your login history should tell you a lot and the last time I check (I am not an attorney) unless you committed a crime or involved in a civil suit a subpoena would have to be issued to obtain those records. And even though that is not enough. Sounds like an excuse not to pay Workers' comp or un-employment.

Just to let you know, there are sites out there on the internet that allows any body to run a IP address to see where it comes from or at lease the server it possible is coming from.

I hope this helped.