Are Background Checks Necessary For IT Workers?

4foot10 writes "UBS PaineWebber learned a hard lesson after hiring an IT systems admin without conducting a background check. Now its ex-employee is slated to be sentenced for launching a 'logic bomb' in UBS' computer systems that crashed 2,000 of the company's servers and left 17,000 brokers unable to make trades."

Comments

New slashdot news category?

[ScentCone]

I didn't know that the headline questions were allowed to be rhetorical.

But then, taco could just hire an unknown editor, sans background check, to help with the editing. Because, what could go wrong?

Re:No guarantee

[DragonWriter]

That logic is flawed.

I think you are reading what I wrote to mean far more than it did: I'm not saying that that correlation would be enough to justify anything, only that without it, you can't justify saying that people with arrest records are somehow "more dangerous". I'm not saying that with it the case would be made, only that without it it cannot.

Same logic: Per capita, more black people commit crimes than white people, therefore, black people are more dangerous to hire.

Yes, and that's quite accurate, as far as it goes. Of course, to be meaningful (in either case) you want to drill down and control for other factors, particularly, to see if that still holds among people with the kind of non-race features that would lead you to hire them in the first place, but my point was that that first initial correlation wasn't even demonstrated, not that if it had been, that would make the case that there was a clear danger (though, its a little different, since the people involved were already hired in sensitive positions; we weren't talking about population incidence of criminality.)

Re:"17,000 brokers unable to make trades."

[Marxist Hacker 42]

They lost in excess of 3 million dollars. That's not "poor baby" money. Their customers were hurt; their reputation was damaged.

Money is a myth- it's not like they lost any LIVES. Get a grip and get some perspective, guys. You failed to do your due dilligence and you paid for it. Financial dealings in a chaotic market are not the end-all-be-all of the universe.

Re:Sensitive data should go both ways.

[ChrisMaple]

A company has a responsibilty to provide a safe workplace. Failing to discover that 5 years ago you were living in a federal penitentiary for bludgeoning a guard to death during a bank robbery is irresponsible behavior by a prospective employer.

Re:"17,000 brokers unable to make trades."

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Yes, but it's not like lives are at stake- these things happen, and should be taken in stride.

Re:Background Checks and Credit Checks for IT

[Tweekster]

You sound like a dick that i wouldnt want to work for anyways...

in fact i dont know why anyone would

Re:Ask yourself this question

[lisaparratt]

So what you're saying is that those that don't get caught have a history of not getting caught?