Hypothetical

K

KingsPtDad

5-Year Member
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Let's say a p/c was idly surfing the internet and ended up on his home town sports page. Suddenly, a pop-up alerts him that VIRUSES ARE BEING DOWNLOADED ONTO HIS COMPUTER! HURRY! BUY THIS PROTECTION RIGHT NOW! The young man, a bit naive is he, falls for the scam, offers up his credit card number, and downloads the "protective" software.

He emails his old man the next day. Old man tells him he's been scammed. Go to your school's IT department immediately. P/c says he's scared that his stupidity, combined with the fact that he was told to use his computer only for school, will arouse the wrath of the regiment.

If something like this were ever to take place, what would any of you parents advise you DS or DD to do? Keep in mind that our hypothetical p/c is computer literate, but nowhere near an expert.
 
Cancel the card would be the first thing I would do. Call or have my parents call the credit card company so that other charges would not be made. As for the computer itself? Tell, take the wrath of the regiment and let it be a lesson learned for a young adult coming into the age of adulthood.
That is what I would tell my DS should he ask but the decision would be his to make.
 
There's a RASH of this popup/social engineering/Install This virus stuff going around. Good lesson for having good daily backups on network or something. You've already addressed the CreditCard part. Good.

Most IT departments, and DoIT, can reformat and get things back to initial state. GOOD object lesson . Then he can restore his backups, or link back to the Network drive with his documents/spreadsheets/etc.

By the way, enlist the official help of those in the know, that can get this fixed pronto ! If he becomes the poster child for "DON'T DO THIS", so what. At least it's EARLY and not THAT many documents have been created... AND he's helped over 300 of his P/C buddies NOT fall into the same trap. And you KNOW there's at least ONE who already has, but is too timid to fix it.

Good rule of thumb, if you have to break out your credit card.... THINK!
Don't hesitate to ask questions.
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Hypothetically speaking, of course. --Yucko, and good luck.

BTW, have him check ... "Acta non verba" doesn't stand for "Click, don't ask"
 
Always tell the truth when asked

One thing my DS has observed while at KP, when asked, always tell the truth. Often mids will think that some infraction will get them in big trouble and even disenrolled. But what DS has noticed more often than not is what gets someone disenrolled (not including failing too many subjects) is when the mid lies about what really happened. Yes, there will be a penalty to pay if you own up to something you have done that is against the rules when questioned. But mostly you will survive to pay your dues (OK, no leaving the campus for leave for a long time), but at least you will survive. It's when people lie when questioned, sometimes after being asked several times and presented with multiple opportunities to tell the truth, that the individual will be asked to leave, often pretty quickly. It's much more honorable to own up to a problem when confronted and accept the consequences than it is to not tell the truth.
 
One additional thought

Some good stuff here. I would recommend upon infection, unplug the cable and or wireless. No need to spread the problem. One of the good things about school purchased laptops is that the school has the OS and approved programs available to reload. Sure it is a pain but nowhere near the pain of an infected machine that you don't have the administration access to properly clean it out!

Fortunately, the time to surf the net will be amazingly short. Our DS's facebook posts went from 1 or 2 a week to 1 or 2 a trimester. Nothing like a large workload to encourage proper time management!
 
2012kpmam said:
One thing my DS has observed while at KP, when asked, always tell the truth. Often mids will think that some infraction will get them in big trouble and even disenrolled. But what DS has noticed more often than not is what gets someone disenrolled (not including failing too many subjects) is when the mid lies about what really happened.
Click to expand...

I concur. Computer forensics are available for the IT dept to know exactly where you son was surfing. He must be 100% honest when reporting the trouble and answering any questions they ask.

The "off-limits web surfing" may get him some punishment, but any lying about it may get him disenrolled.
 
Just want to echo the advice of kpmam2012 and Luigi on this thread....

The fastest way to drastically increase the stress in your life as a Midshipman is to find yourself in front of an Honor or Executive Board.....
 
I'm Confused...just a bit...

I thought the DoIt ppl would have mega anti spyware and antivirus software installed and activated on the government laptops at the very least, and I also was under the impression that most of the "net" would be inaccessible regardless. My husband works at AFB and their computers CAN'T access sites unless authorized. Isn't most of the intranet "locked out" for our Plebes? But in any case "Just wanted to let everyone know that we were able to use a site called "chatzy.com" to talk to our DS tonight, since we don't have a webcam. It gives you a free trial for three days, but the cost is minimal to join." posted by "hypothetical" dad seems to invite DS into treacherous waters! Doesn't it?
 
DoIT can fix the problem. regimentally, it most likely wont even be an issue. the DoIT staff doesnt report to the regimental chain of command at a disciplinary level unless a major infraction has taken place, which this would not qualify as. Even if the staff does decide to use the incident in a "dont do this" briefing, it will be anonymous. better to get the problem fixed now than to let it get worse.

p.s.- the above is just my prediction based on past experiences. unfortunately, i cant guarantee that they wont get in trouble. but if i was a betting man, i'd put money on the fact that it'll be fine.
 
We just use Facebook to chat with and it is free. All you have to do is sign up.
 
Thanks

Thanks for all the insight. I'm in agreement with the consensus and appreciate the confirmation. If anyone else has additional info, please post. I'll continue to check.
 
I would defer to wac2013 who appears to have personal knowledge of something like this.

What I don't understand, is that it is common knowledge that kids are using Facebook. I cannot imagine the Academ has established a totally safe and secure connection to that site. This type of spyware can be easily snagged from there and regardless of whether you purchase it, it can cause problems for your computer.

Can someone clarify for me- do they have permission to use Facebook and the other chat programs people are referring to?

Please let us know how this turns out for your son.
 
Juniper 2014 said:
Can someone clarify for me- do they have permission to use Facebook and the other chat programs people are referring to?
Click to expand...

THe only people who would know would be current midshipmen.

Everyone needs to remember there are two (or more) sets of rules at the Academy. There are the rules that in this instance DoIT sets...and then there are rules that the Midshipmen Officer's set.

The rules that DoIT set will for the most part prevent your child from going to sites they aren't supposed to be at, lock out the USB ports, etc.

The rules the midshipmen officer's make (eg No facebook, no media, etc) are not enforced by DoIT and you only get in trouble if you get caught. So...what does this mean...is it possible for your child to access websites they aren't supposed to go to? Yes, if it's a Plebe rule they can, but there is the potential to get in trouble.

As an aside most people seem surprised that you can access Facebook on govt computers. This has been a pretty big deal in the military recently and pretty much all of the services now allow Facebook access at work. Obviously you better not get caught when you're supposed to be working, but you'll see plenty of people using it on Navy bases.
 
like i said, its mostly conjecture on my part based on somewhat related, but not exactly the same situation. i assume no liability for regimental punishments recieved from DoIT as a result of this plan of action. warrantee is non-transferrable, tax and tags extra, some side effects may occur:biggrin: as far as facebook goes, the upper class are permitted to use it. for the P/Cs, that depends on the CTOs and CAOs decision on the matter. however, that would be a regimental decision and not an IT-based policy. for the time being, facebook is fine. i in no way claim to posess the intimate knowledge of computer systems that would be necessary to draw any conclusions from an IT security standpoint.
 
kp2001 said:
THe only people who would know would be current midshipmen.

Everyone needs to remember there are two (or more) sets of rules at the Academy. There are the rules that in this instance DoIT sets...and then there are rules that the Midshipmen Officer's set.

The rules that DoIT set will for the most part prevent your child from going to sites they aren't supposed to be at, lock out the USB ports, etc.

The rules the midshipmen officer's make (eg No facebook, no media, etc) are not enforced by DoIT and you only get in trouble if you get caught. So...what does this mean...is it possible for your child to access websites they aren't supposed to go to? Yes, if it's a Plebe rule they can, but there is the potential to get in trouble.

As an aside most people seem surprised that you can access Facebook on govt computers. This has been a pretty big deal in the military recently and pretty much all of the services now allow Facebook access at work. Obviously you better not get caught when you're supposed to be working, but you'll see plenty of people using it on Navy bases.
Click to expand...

kp2001: you beat me to the punch. this summarizes the situation very well. :thumb:
 
Cancel the card, take the computer down to DoIT and say a virus is on the computer, they will either try to remove it w/o ruining deleting any files the kid has on the computer or they will just reformat the drive (start from zero so to say).

The worst part of the story is the card information, i dont see why the regiment would be involved in this situation.
 
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