Delicate queston for Sys. Admins. - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

sipsake · 12-10-2003, 12:44 PM

I've run into an interesting situation here at work.

Someone was surfing porn last night and got stupid. When the staff of one department arrived this morning, they were greeted by several pages of porn printed out on a networked printer.

Needless to say, the Director of the department is wanting someone's head on a platter and has come to me to find the culprit.

Now, I don't want this thread to get out of hand with debate over the politics of the situation. We've been a fairly easy-going operation until now. What I need is to know if any of you have a fairly quick method of scanning the caches of about 25 networked workstations.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any other advice on conducting the investigation?

brandon11983 · 12-10-2003, 01:42 PM

I can't help you, but I bet Fearless_Hyena can. He's a sys admin and has helped me with stuff before.

Atomsk · 12-10-2003, 02:07 PM

whats the network setup? do you have a domain? are the computers secured? can someone log into a computer that isn't theirs? answer these things and i'm sure i could help you out. if you got a domain you can use SMS to scan those computers. if not you should just mount the cache dir's on your computer and search all drives on your computer and the report should give you the path thats associated with the computers share you mounted. there are ton's of ways to do this fast and easy if your working within a solid security profile.

hrdwareguy · 12-10-2003, 02:12 PM

If these machines are Win 2K Pro or WinXP don't forget about the C$ share for the admin. Then mount the drives as Atomsk suggested and find out who done it.

sipsake · 12-10-2003, 02:17 PM

NT domain w/ 1 sub domain.

Workstations are a blend of NT4, 2k and XP.

Security is loose on most of the workstations. Users can log onto the workstation if they have a valid network logon id and password.

I've been mounting the drives as described, but given the number of workstations and the number of valid profiles on each computer it is still time consuming.

ßeastie · 12-10-2003, 05:33 PM

I assume the queue does not hang off of any server then? If it did you should be able to go to your event viewer and take a look at jobs that were submitted for the time frame to limit your search.

Others have suggested doing a search of the hard drives, for anything in cache, but as you said that could be very tedious.

If you require your users to logoff you could check the event logs on each of the machines to see when logoff occured for people, again to limit your search.

If you do not have a proxy server you might want to invest in one as it could give you this tracking information a bit better and let you block sites that you do not want users getting to.

Pragma · 12-10-2003, 07:13 PM

I'm with Beastie on this one: Look at your print server, it should (assuming you've set it up properly) log the user that sent the print job, and the time. If you can even find the time and the job, you can view the event logs.

As for searching the cache files (assuming they didn't clear them), your only real option is (assuming you don't have a central file server that stores people's files - and assuming you haven't set the profiles up NOT to store Temporary Internet Files on the fileserver) is to mount each C$ share and look.

It sucks that it takes a lesson like this to learn better auditing, but now you know.

12-10-2003, 12:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
sipsake Psycho Location: Memphis	Delicate queston for Sys. Admins. I've run into an interesting situation here at work. Someone was surfing porn last night and got stupid. When the staff of one department arrived this morning, they were greeted by several pages of porn printed out on a networked printer. Needless to say, the Director of the department is wanting someone's head on a platter and has come to me to find the culprit. Now, I don't want this thread to get out of hand with debate over the politics of the situation. We've been a fairly easy-going operation until now. What I need is to know if any of you have a fairly quick method of scanning the caches of about 25 networked workstations. Has this happened to anyone else? Any other advice on conducting the investigation? __________________ When life hands you a lemon, say "Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?" Henry Rollins

12-10-2003, 01:42 PM	#2 (permalink)
brandon11983 Stereophonic Location: Chitown!!	I can't help you, but I bet Fearless_Hyena can. He's a sys admin and has helped me with stuff before. __________________ Well behaved women rarely make history.

12-10-2003, 02:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
hrdwareguy "Officer, I was in fear for my life" Location: Oklahoma City	If these machines are Win 2K Pro or WinXP don't forget about the C$ share for the admin. Then mount the drives as Atomsk suggested and find out who done it. __________________ Gun Control is hitting what you aim at Aim for the TFP, Donate Today

12-10-2003, 02:17 PM	#5 (permalink)
sipsake Psycho Location: Memphis	NT domain w/ 1 sub domain. Workstations are a blend of NT4, 2k and XP. Security is loose on most of the workstations. Users can log onto the workstation if they have a valid network logon id and password. I've been mounting the drives as described, but given the number of workstations and the number of valid profiles on each computer it is still time consuming. __________________ When life hands you a lemon, say "Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?" Henry Rollins

12-10-2003, 07:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
Pragma I am Winter Born Location: Alexandria, VA	I'm with Beastie on this one: Look at your print server, it should (assuming you've set it up properly) log the user that sent the print job, and the time. If you can even find the time and the job, you can view the event logs. As for searching the cache files (assuming they didn't clear them), your only real option is (assuming you don't have a central file server that stores people's files - and assuming you haven't set the profiles up NOT to store Temporary Internet Files on the fileserver) is to mount each C$ share and look. It sucks that it takes a lesson like this to learn better auditing, but now you know. __________________ Eat antimatter, Posleen-boy!

12-10-2003, 02:07 PM	#3 (permalink)
Atomsk Crazy	whats the network setup? do you have a domain? are the computers secured? can someone log into a computer that isn't theirs? answer these things and i'm sure i could help you out. if you got a domain you can use SMS to scan those computers. if not you should just mount the cache dir's on your computer and search all drives on your computer and the report should give you the path thats associated with the computers share you mounted. there are ton's of ways to do this fast and easy if your working within a solid security profile.

12-10-2003, 05:33 PM	#6 (permalink)
ßeastie Junkie Location: NorthEast	I assume the queue does not hang off of any server then? If it did you should be able to go to your event viewer and take a look at jobs that were submitted for the time frame to limit your search. Others have suggested doing a search of the hard drives, for anything in cache, but as you said that could be very tedious. If you require your users to logoff you could check the event logs on each of the machines to see when logoff occured for people, again to limit your search. If you do not have a proxy server you might want to invest in one as it could give you this tracking information a bit better and let you block sites that you do not want users getting to.