Pornography on a Familysearch Center computer.

I am a stake techology specialist. We had an issue that a Family History Missionary reported to us that they had discovered a pornographic image on one of the FamilySearch Center computers. We are not sure if someone transferred it from another device or if it was downloaded from the Internet.

Does anybody have ideas on how to try to prevent this, so it doesn't happen again in the future?

The computers should be centrally managed as far as the firewall filtering.

I think the best deterrent is to orient the screens so they've visible to most if not all of the room. Where the screens are private, there's temptation.

At least then the staff will know who is responsible and take steps.

I'd also reexamine who has keys to the room. Any full-time missionary access to the room needs to be by agreement with the mission president and the stake president. And from what I'm hearing from the folks in the FamilyHistory department, it's discouraged. Especially unsupervised missionary access.

The image might have been placed by malware on the computer (rather than an individual who purposefully put it there).

munaish wrote: Sun Jul 09, 2023 1:24 am The image might have been placed by malware on the computer (rather than an individual who purposefully put it there).

While not impossible, I don't think it's likely. Most malware today is an organized criminal activity (ransomware, hijacking, or information theft). Malware for laughs hasn't been a thing for some time.

Still, it would be wise to scan it for any malware.

I think malware is definitely the most likely scenario, personally. It's pretty common for malware to include pornography, and even if it is true that (and I'm not concurring that it is uncommon; I do concur that it seems less common, though) it's not super common these days, people entering family history centers installing software are probably less likely to use modern software in so doing than your average person. [I'm not saying people intentionally installing malware. I mean people installing or using software generally, which might have malware on it, such as via a flash drive or whatever.]

Even a hijacked web browser could have done something like that. [It could have put pornography as the background to a screen.] A web browser add-on or installed toolbar could do the same.

Also, exposure to malware doesn't necessarily mean it's currently on the computer. (It may have been a website with deceptive buttons that got the user to do something other than they thought they were doing.)

Anyway, I'm mostly just trying to persuade everyone to /not/ blame visitors to the family history center for the pornography as if it were intentional. I don't think that's healthy.

You could always install some kind of surveillance cameras or something, so you'll know for sure what happened in future, if it happens again. I don't think probably cause is enough to convinct someone, and we don't even have that here; actual proof is needed, I think.

munaish wrote: Sun Jul 09, 2023 2:53 pm Anyway, I'm mostly just trying to persuade everyone to /not/ blame visitors to the family history center for the pornography as if it were intentional. I don't think that's healthy.

Even if it's not the case here, I'd still take steps to prevent intentional - such as making sure the screens are not private and being mindful of who has keys to the FSC.

russellhltn wrote: Sun Jul 09, 2023 3:55 pm

munaish wrote: Sun Jul 09, 2023 2:53 pm Anyway, I'm mostly just trying to persuade everyone to /not/ blame visitors to the family history center for the pornography as if it were intentional. I don't think that's healthy.

Even if it's not the case here, I'd still take steps to prevent intentional - such as making sure the screens are not private and being mindful of who has keys to the FSC.

I concur.

I understand the FSC computers use is monitored centrally, so contacting the FS tech department with the individual computer FS-... ID number may reveal some facts.