Jimmy Higgins
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- Jan 31, 2001
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HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA -- Don Anderson, an IT Professional for an engineering firm, was institutionalized in a mental health hospital after becoming "distraught" over "threats" against the company's server. "It started out innocently," noted John Oiler, a manager at the firm Anderson works for. "He would tell us to be careful when using the Internet."
However, as years past, his co-workers became more aware of a growing sense of paranoia. "I noticed a change about two years ago," stated Wendy Wendleson, an engineer at the firm. "It seemed like every day it'd be something new. It seemed like he was investing terms like 'dark web' and 'phishing' and 'ransomware'.... we didn't know how he came up with all of this stuff."
Things became problematic when he started changing office policies especially for emails. "You shouldn't trust emails just because they come from a person you know," stated one memo he sent to the office. "It is important to be vigilant with what you click or be aware of when an email doesn't seem right, even when from someone you know."
"It was becoming too much of a distraction," indicated John Oiler. "First we weren't supposed to open email attachments, then click on links, then he said it was even possible to open a web site from a link that would launch code on our computers. We are talking real overblown science fiction here."
As time progressed, so did his fears regarding their network, alleging that attacks were aimed at their servers all of the time and they needed to be vigilant and stay on top of software upgrades to prevent a hacking. "He thought our server was always under attack. I mean, who'd want to hack our server?"
Action was deemed necessary once Anderson started demanding online training courses to help people know the threats that were out there. "When he wanted us to do online training that would cost us money and production time," noted Oiler, "we knew the paranoia was just too far gone and he needed help."
Representatives of a mental health institution removed him from the office and Anderson was heard yelling and screaming saying "I'm not crazy" and "Cybersecurity is a real thing!"
"It was so sad to see him like that," stated Wendy Wendleson. "Hopefully he can get the treatment he needs and he can come back with a sound mind."
However, as years past, his co-workers became more aware of a growing sense of paranoia. "I noticed a change about two years ago," stated Wendy Wendleson, an engineer at the firm. "It seemed like every day it'd be something new. It seemed like he was investing terms like 'dark web' and 'phishing' and 'ransomware'.... we didn't know how he came up with all of this stuff."
Things became problematic when he started changing office policies especially for emails. "You shouldn't trust emails just because they come from a person you know," stated one memo he sent to the office. "It is important to be vigilant with what you click or be aware of when an email doesn't seem right, even when from someone you know."
"It was becoming too much of a distraction," indicated John Oiler. "First we weren't supposed to open email attachments, then click on links, then he said it was even possible to open a web site from a link that would launch code on our computers. We are talking real overblown science fiction here."
As time progressed, so did his fears regarding their network, alleging that attacks were aimed at their servers all of the time and they needed to be vigilant and stay on top of software upgrades to prevent a hacking. "He thought our server was always under attack. I mean, who'd want to hack our server?"
Action was deemed necessary once Anderson started demanding online training courses to help people know the threats that were out there. "When he wanted us to do online training that would cost us money and production time," noted Oiler, "we knew the paranoia was just too far gone and he needed help."
Representatives of a mental health institution removed him from the office and Anderson was heard yelling and screaming saying "I'm not crazy" and "Cybersecurity is a real thing!"
"It was so sad to see him like that," stated Wendy Wendleson. "Hopefully he can get the treatment he needs and he can come back with a sound mind."
