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FCC Admits It Was Never Actually Hacked (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The FCC has come clean on the fact that a purported hack of its comment system last year never actually took place, after a report from its inspector general found a lack of evidence supporting the idea. Chairman Ajit Pai blamed the former chief information officer and the Obama administration for providing "inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people." It was so galling to everyone looking for answers that the GAO was officially asked to look into it. The letter requesting the office's help at the time complained that the FCC had "not released any records or documentation that would allow for confirmation that an attack occurred, that it was effectively dealt with, and that the FCC has begun to institute measures to thwart future attacks and ensure the security of its systems." That investigation is still going on, but one conducted by the FCC's own OIG resulted in the report Pai cites.
Pai's statement was issued before the OIG publicized its report, as one does when a report is imminent that essentially says your agency has been clueless at best or deliberately untruthful at worst, and for more than a year. To be clear, the report is still unpublished, though its broader conclusions are clear from Pai's statement. In it he slathers Bray with the partisan brush and asserts that the report exonerates his office: "I am deeply disappointed that the FCC's former [CIO], who was hired by the prior Administration and is no longer with the Commission, provided inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people. This is completely unacceptable. I'm also disappointed that some working under the former CIO apparently either disagreed with the information that he was presenting or had questions about it, yet didn't feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office. On the other hand, I'm pleased that this report debunks the conspiracy theory that my office or I had any knowledge that the information provided by the former CIO was inaccurate and was allowing that inaccurate information to be disseminated for political purposes." UPDATE: The complete Office of Inspector General report has been released, refuting claims that a cyberattack was responsible for disrupting the FCC's comment system last year.
Pai's statement was issued before the OIG publicized its report, as one does when a report is imminent that essentially says your agency has been clueless at best or deliberately untruthful at worst, and for more than a year. To be clear, the report is still unpublished, though its broader conclusions are clear from Pai's statement. In it he slathers Bray with the partisan brush and asserts that the report exonerates his office: "I am deeply disappointed that the FCC's former [CIO], who was hired by the prior Administration and is no longer with the Commission, provided inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people. This is completely unacceptable. I'm also disappointed that some working under the former CIO apparently either disagreed with the information that he was presenting or had questions about it, yet didn't feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office. On the other hand, I'm pleased that this report debunks the conspiracy theory that my office or I had any knowledge that the information provided by the former CIO was inaccurate and was allowing that inaccurate information to be disseminated for political purposes." UPDATE: The complete Office of Inspector General report has been released, refuting claims that a cyberattack was responsible for disrupting the FCC's comment system last year.
No, he's still president.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Taking a page right out of Trump's book... blame the guy who came before you.
There's a joke that goes with that...
A new hire manager type was starting a new job and knowing the previous manager was highly praised showed up the day the previous manager was scheduled to leave to ask his advice and find out the secrets of the job if he could. The exiting manager was just walking out when he arrived and told him "I left you instructions in what's now your desk. Just look in the top drawer. Everything you need to know is in those but follow the instructions carefully. Good Luck!" and he left claiming he had an appointment to keep.
The next work day, the new manager couldn't wait to see what the instructions where so he arrived early and got though the onboarding process as quickly as he could. At noon, just after meeting his new team he was finally shown his desk and allowed to settle in and get to work. He sat down, opening the desk drawer and found three separate envelops. One was labeled "Open Now", another was labeled "Open in 12 months" and the final one was labeled "Open in 24 months" which seemed weird but taking the letter opener out he opened the first one.
"Welcome to your new job. I hope you have the same success I did. Here is what I recommend you do. For the next 12 months you should keep things mostly as they are. Any problems you have with the system or the individuals on the team you can blame on me. Tell management that you have identified the problem and it was the previous manager's fault."
So that's what he did. For 12 moths, any problems where blamed on the previous manager and it worked. He was getting good performance reviews, people thought he was effective, everybody was happy with him. He couldn't wait to see the advice in the next envelop.
At 12 months, he went into his office, closed the door, and opened the second letter. "Reorganize the whole department. Scramble every job, rewrite every process. Call it process improvement, business to process alignment, what ever you want. Tell everybody you are fixing the issues that have plagued you for the last 12 months. Now you must stop blaming me, but you can now blame all problems on the team and the reorganization and rewrite of the process. 'We are all learning the new process and working out the kinks while we learn our new responsibilities' is now your theme." So that's what he did. It was bumpy, filled with problems that he blamed on the reorganization but everybody like him still and his performance appraisals where again excellent that year.
As 24 months approached, the wisdom of the previous manager was apparent and his advice was working really well. People where singing the current managers abilities and hard work. There where lots of problems, but the belief was the new guy was working those out and everybody was happy. Again, as the 24th month started, the new manager entered his office, closed the door, took a deep breath as he slipped the last envelop out of his desk drawer to read it and find out what pearls of wisdom he was about to get and how this would again advance his career. The pervious manager was AMAZING!
He opens the last letter and it says only this: "Write three letters.. "
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101