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Another IBM stuff up... anyone remember the Australian Census screw up? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-25/ibm-to-pay-over-$30m-in-compensation-for-census-fa

Another IBM stuff up... anyone remember the Australian Census screw up? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-25/ibm-to-pay-over-$30m-in-compensation-for-census-fail/8057240 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-25/ibm-to-pay-over-$30m-i...

johansch 9y ago
I don't really think we can blame IBM on this one. From what I can tell, they followed the specs. The problem was that the authority overseeing lots of very sensitive data forgot to specify that the individuals working on this project would need be a) swedish citizens, b) go through government level security clearance). So then when IBM came back with, "hey guys, here's our list of a dozen+ guys in Serbia who need read/write access to all of the data", the swedish agencency felt like they had no choice to grant access to extra-nationals, even though it was clearly against the law. Note: Serbia happens to be quite closely related to Russia, politically speaking. One of the admins who were granted read/write access had a ten year history in the serbian army...
- dragandj 9y ago
  Where did you get the information about dozen+ guys in _Serbia_? The article does not mention Serbia, but mentions Check Republic...
  - sampo 9y ago
    Serbia (not necessarily dozen guys, though) has been mentioned in a lot of news articles in the Swedish press. It's now even on the Wikipedia page in the Swedish Wikipedia. https://www.google.com/search?q=Maria+%C3%85gren+serbien https://www.google.com/search?q=Maria+%C3%85gren+serbien
  - rhblake 9y ago
    It was reported by DN who received a copy of the Swedish Security Service's (Säpo) preliminary investigation [0]. My translation of a few paragraphs from the article: "Swedish IBM used up to 11 subsidiaries and subcontractors in different countries, among them Romania, Croatia, Czech Republic and Serbia. ``But how the data would flow she did not understand'', witnesses a consultant who evaluated IBM's offer before the contract signing. The ones who got "the keys to the kingdom" where three IBM administrators in Czech Republic, with full access to all data and logs. It meant the possibility to copy and distribute data and then remove all traces. The computer systems' various firewalls and all communication were handled by a company in Serbia where 14 named persons became administrators, they, too, without a security check." [0] http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/statliga-hemligheter-kunde-nas-av-frammande-makt/ http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/statliga-hemligheter-kunde-...
rhblake 9y ago
I don't know how much blame you can put on IBM here. - The Transport Agency decided to outsource operations, and IBM won the contract (April 2015) - The following month, the head of the agency decided to ignore certain laws about privacy, secrecy, etc., as well as the agency's own requirements about information security - The Swedish Security Service, Säpo (basically our FBI), immediately got wind of this and started investigating, ultimately recommending - in November 2015 - to put an immediate halt to the outsourcing - The Transport Agency decided to ignore the advice of Säpo and handed over operations to IBM in December 2015 Here's a good timeline: http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/detta-vet-vi-om-transportstyrelsens-it-skandal/ http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/detta-vet-vi-om-transportst...
- alfla 9y ago
  article paywall
  - rhblake 9y ago
    It's a "soft" paywall - the content is still there. Use uBlock Origin or similar, and don't let the site set cookies, and everything will be fine (Firefox: right click -> View Page Info -> Permissions -> set "Set Cookies" to "Block").
- bjelkeman-again 9y ago
  IBM really should be able to see that this is a very questionable contract and not take the contract.
  - justinclift 9y ago
    At this point (and historically for many years), it seems like there is no circumstance upon which an IBM salesperson or any of their management (right to the top) would ever say No to receiving more money.
- daemin 9y ago
  It seems that all of the shifting of labour is working out for IBM. I wonder how long it will be before the statement "nobody got fired for picking IBM" becomes false. But that timeline does seem quite ridiculous. To wilfully ignore the recommendations of you security services, seems almost Trumpesque.
jussij 9y ago
That's nothing compared to their massive $1 billion Queensland Health Payroll stuff up: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-06/qld-health-payroll-debacle-to-cost-1.2b/4056378 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-06/qld-health-payroll-deb... http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/government-may-sack-bureaucrats-named-in-qld-health-payroll-row/4869662 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/government-may-sack-bu...

johansch 9y ago

I don't really think we can blame IBM on this one. From what I can tell, they followed the specs. The problem was that the authority overseeing lots of very sensitive data forgot to specify that the individuals working on this project would need be a) swedish citizens, b) go through government level security clearance). So then when IBM came back with, "hey guys, here's our list of a dozen+ guys in Serbia who need read/write access to all of the data", the swedish agencency felt like they had no choice to grant access to extra-nationals, even though it was clearly against the law. Note: Serbia happens to be quite closely related to Russia, politically speaking. One of the admins who were granted read/write access had a ten year history in the serbian army...

dragandj 9y ago
Where did you get the information about dozen+ guys in _Serbia_? The article does not mention Serbia, but mentions Check Republic...
- sampo 9y ago
  Serbia (not necessarily dozen guys, though) has been mentioned in a lot of news articles in the Swedish press. It's now even on the Wikipedia page in the Swedish Wikipedia. https://www.google.com/search?q=Maria+%C3%85gren+serbien https://www.google.com/search?q=Maria+%C3%85gren+serbien
- rhblake 9y ago
  It was reported by DN who received a copy of the Swedish Security Service's (Säpo) preliminary investigation [0]. My translation of a few paragraphs from the article: "Swedish IBM used up to 11 subsidiaries and subcontractors in different countries, among them Romania, Croatia, Czech Republic and Serbia. ``But how the data would flow she did not understand'', witnesses a consultant who evaluated IBM's offer before the contract signing. The ones who got "the keys to the kingdom" where three IBM administrators in Czech Republic, with full access to all data and logs. It meant the possibility to copy and distribute data and then remove all traces. The computer systems' various firewalls and all communication were handled by a company in Serbia where 14 named persons became administrators, they, too, without a security check." [0] http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/statliga-hemligheter-kunde-nas-av-frammande-makt/ http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/statliga-hemligheter-kunde-...

rhblake 9y ago

I don't know how much blame you can put on IBM here. - The Transport Agency decided to outsource operations, and IBM won the contract (April 2015) - The following month, the head of the agency decided to ignore certain laws about privacy, secrecy, etc., as well as the agency's own requirements about information security - The Swedish Security Service, Säpo (basically our FBI), immediately got wind of this and started investigating, ultimately recommending - in November 2015 - to put an immediate halt to the outsourcing - The Transport Agency decided to ignore the advice of Säpo and handed over operations to IBM in December 2015 Here's a good timeline: http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/detta-vet-vi-om-transportstyrelsens-it-skandal/ http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/detta-vet-vi-om-transportst...

alfla 9y ago
article paywall
- rhblake 9y ago
  It's a "soft" paywall - the content is still there. Use uBlock Origin or similar, and don't let the site set cookies, and everything will be fine (Firefox: right click -> View Page Info -> Permissions -> set "Set Cookies" to "Block").
bjelkeman-again 9y ago
IBM really should be able to see that this is a very questionable contract and not take the contract.
- justinclift 9y ago
  At this point (and historically for many years), it seems like there is no circumstance upon which an IBM salesperson or any of their management (right to the top) would ever say No to receiving more money.
daemin 9y ago
It seems that all of the shifting of labour is working out for IBM. I wonder how long it will be before the statement "nobody got fired for picking IBM" becomes false. But that timeline does seem quite ridiculous. To wilfully ignore the recommendations of you security services, seems almost Trumpesque.

jussij 9y ago

That's nothing compared to their massive $1 billion Queensland Health Payroll stuff up: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-06/qld-health-payroll-debacle-to-cost-1.2b/4056378 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-06/qld-health-payroll-deb... http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/government-may-sack-bureaucrats-named-in-qld-health-payroll-row/4869662 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/government-may-sack-bu...