TG Daily:
Computer virus loaded state worker’s laptop with porn.
PC Mag put it more bluntly:
Guy Gets Fired and Ruined for Having Virus On His Notebook.
How did this happen? Massachusetts employee Michael Fiola was issued a laptop by his department's IT group in November 2006,
but apparently it wasn’t properly configured for the agency’s server-based software and security maintenance. Plus, the Symantec Corporate Edition antivirus software on the laptop was never operating correctly while Fiola used the machine.
“For three-and-a-half months, IT never once communicated with that laptop, so it had nothing to monitor or maintain it,” says Tami Loehrs, the forensic expert who investigated Fiola’s laptop and concluded that there was no evidence he had engaged in the activity nor knew the files were on his machine. [...]
There were no signs of Fiola himself actually typing in a URL to one of the sites or directing his browser there. Instead, the malware on his machine as well as a possible remote attacker were doing the dirty work and storing cached images of child porn, according to Loehrs. Another indication of Fiola’s innocence, according to Loehrs, was that there were no files actually stored on his computer, which true child porn criminals typically do. “All of the files were cached in his temporary Internet files” in his browser, she says. “We would log into his work Website... and things would appear on his temporary Internet cache.” - Dark Reading
The problem was discovered when IT noticed that Fiola's laptop was using four times as much bandwidth as his coworkers. Did they check for malware? Did they find the viruses? No. But they found porn (including child porn) in the browser cache.
Did management investigate how the porn got on the machine? No.
They fired Fiola in March 2007 and called the cops. The police's initial examination of the laptop confirmed the porn and charges were filed in August 2007. Fiola's wife and immediate family did stand by him. The Fiolas hired Loehrs to do a month-long independent forensic examination, and
two forensic examinations conducted by the state Attorney General’s Office for the prosecution concurred with her that malware was at fault, not Michael Fiola. Charges were dropped recently.
In the meantime, the Fiolas have been ostracized, and are planning to sue his former employer - a state agency. Not that I blame them; he was fired for IT's incompetence and effectively framed for child porn, even if it was (I assume) unintentionally.
And I wonder: The IT folks who didn't notice the viruses and Trojans, or that the antivirus software wasn't running properly or that the laptop wasn't getting updated: How are they feeling? Did it ever occur to them that the porn might be related to their (in)actions?
What happens when user support fails the user? And how did our society get so freaked that being a malware victim can result in criminal charges?
How to nap. 
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