Iroquois Officials to Search Emails for Unethical/Illegal Conduct
February 23, 2015Computer Audit Criticizes Former Employees’ Use
August 31, 2015Written by Robert Themer
Inappropriate, personal use of computers by former Ford-Iroquois Health Department staff employed in the Iroquois County office in Watseka cost the department an estimated $250,000 per year in wasted staff time, a forensic computer auditor has concluded.
The second audit done by forensic auditor Andrew Garrett of Decatur-based Garrett Discovery examined three to five years of use of 16 computers in the Watseka office, finding 160,129 inappropriate web searches.
More than 142,000 of those were done on the top four computers searched. Inappropriate web searches included hits on dating sites, Facebook, Amazon, eBay and other online sales sites. One of the users also searched pornography sites.
Using an average of $44 per hour per employee for wages and benefits, Garrett reported to the board’s policy and procedure committee that the cost for inappropriate computer use would total $250,000 per year for the time employees spent “on the Internet rather than their actual job.”
The second forensic reviews were reviewed by the county board this week.