Wally? Is that you?

[Fairportfan]

Employee outsources own job to read Reddit, earns a fortune

If businesses can save time and money by outsourcing jobs and services, why can't employees do the same?

Perhaps this was the mindset of "Bob," a developer based at a U.S. critical infrastructure company who was part of a case study released by Verizon. Bob, one of the top developers at the firm, was part of a security audit that exposed what the employee was actually doing — outsourcing his job to a Chinese developer.

The situation came to light when the company's telecommunications supplier was called in after a basic virtual private network (VPN) was constructed to cater for staff to be able to work from home. The VPN logs showed that the corporate network was continually being accessed from Shenyang in China, which suggested that something dodgy was going on.

By using Bob's credentials, the Chinese programmer was able to login and access the company's main server. Recorded invoices showed that Bob had outsourced his work to a software consultancy firm in the Asian country, giving them his credentials and paying them only a fifth of his six-figure salary while he enjoyed his free time.

"The company's IT personnel were sure that the issue had to do with some kind of zero day malware that was able to initiate VPN connections from Bob's desktop workstation via external proxy and then route that VPN traffic to China, only to be routed back to their concentrator," said Verizon. "Yes, it is a bit of a convoluted theory, and like most convoluted theories, an incorrect one."

So what did Bob do with all of his spare time? He surfed, chatted, and procrastinated, as his browser history shows:
9:00 a.m. - Arrive and surf Reddit for a couple of hours. Watch cat videos.
11:30 a.m. - Take lunch.
1:00 p.m. - Ebay time.
2:00p.m - Facebook updates, LinkedIn.
4:30 p.m. - End of day update e-mail to management.
5:00 p.m. - Go home

After further investigation into the programmer's activities, Verizon found that Bob had pulled the same stunt on other companies, resulting in his middle-man job earning him a fortune in profit. Sadly for Bob, his company may be allowed to outsource work, but employees may not.

[Jabberwonky]

If the job's getting done to the employers satisfaction, where's the problem? The only one I see is the security access to the outside.
Of course, by the same sword, the company can cut 'Bob' and hire the consulting firm directly saving 80% of his salary...

[scantrontb]

If the job's getting done to the employers satisfaction, where's the problem? The only one I see is the security access to the outside.

that's a simple one, if they can prove it was him, and it does seem like they can prove it... they can sue for fraud... the company hired HIM to do the work NOT the sub contractor, and if he did the same thing at other jobs and used those as references/ experience, then he flat out lied to get the job in the first place, as well... so they can conceivably get all his wages back from him from the time he started to do this to the day they fire him for cause... and depending on if the job was for the Government or not, he could be looking at federal charges as well. he will then have a criminal record that will prevent him from various other jobs in that field of employment, as well as many other job fields too. they can also fire him for misuse of company property, namely anything done on the computer from 0900 to 1630 and i'll take a quick guess and say that his job description says nothing about doing that as an official job function...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

If the job's getting done to the employers satisfaction, where's the problem? The only one I see is the security access to the outside.

that's a simple one, if they can prove it was him, and it does seem like they can prove it... they can sue for fraud... the company hired HIM to do the work NOT the sub contractor, and if he did the same thing at other jobs and used those as references/ experience, then he flat out lied to get the job in the first place, as well... so they can conceivably get all his wages back from him from the time he started to do this to the day they fire him for cause... and depending on if the job was for the Government or not, he could be looking at federal charges as well. he will then have a criminal record that will prevent him from various other jobs in that field of employment, as well as many other job fields too. they can also fire him for misuse of company property, namely anything done on the computer from 0900 to 1630 and i'll take a quick guess and say that his job description says nothing about doing that as an official job function...

Then he laughs and starts up his own consultant firm, doing the exact thing as the owner of his company, outsourcing it to the same guys (who are apparently doing a pretty good job) all nice and legal-like...

[Julie]

Wow...it takes a special person to think they won't get caught doing things like that. In my time as a compliance/supervision officer at a financial services firm, I've learned a few rules of the game that I share with new sales guys all the time:
1. Do the right thing.
2. If you ever do the wrong thing, tell us about it. The state and federal regulators are not as nice or inclined to giving second chances as your local compliance/supervision officer. As such, dealing with us now is an infinitely better prospect than dealing with "officials" later.
3. If you ever do the wrong thing and lie about it or try to hide it, you will get caught. Maybe not the first or second time, but it is inevitable.
4. Unlike you may find in some social situations, at work it is always better/easier to ask for permission than it is to ask for forgiveness. You might be told "No," but at least you will get to keep your money and your job. (In the financial industry "asking for forgiveness" usually results in fines and other penalties...some of which could involve being banned from the industry entirely.)

This "Bob" character could have used this list of rules I think...

[scantrontb]

Then he laughs and starts up his own consultant firm, doing the exact thing as the owner of his company, outsourcing it to the same guys (who are apparently doing a pretty good job) all nice and legal-like...

um... nice thought, but no.the CRIMINAL RECORD part of that will prevent him from doing so, especially if he tries to get government contracts.... not saying that he can't TRY by going as an unlicensed operator and working under-the-table type jobs... but the really good-paying jobs require clearances, and licenses etc..that he just will not be able to obtain any more due to the record...